REMINISCENCES 



OF 



■y 



Gideon Burton 



Written by Himself 
IN His Eighty-Fifth Year. 



•is^^- 



CINCINNATI, OHIO; 

PRESS OF GEORGE P. HOUSTON. 

189.5. 



PREFACE. 

It has been nn^ great pleasure for many \'ears to relate 
to my own f^imily and to intimate friends, incidents of ni}- 
life, which had impressed themselves indelibly upon nu' mind. 
At the request of my family, I concluded, a few years ago, 
to preserve them in writing, sending what I had written to 
a friend, '^~ whose judgment I respect; he advised me b}' all 
means to publish it. It seemed to him inteiesting and so 
full of history, reminding one of "Watson's Annals of Phil- 
delphia," and so much of Auld Lang Syne, that it ought to 
be preserved as a book. I trust that these recollections may 
lovingly be cherished in the hearts of m\- dear famil}-, and 
that others, especially young men in whom I have alwaws 
taken great interest, may be stimulated thereby to become 
useful and inlluential citizens, and may perceive from m\' 
varied, )'et liumble, experience, that the Lord blesses those 
who trust in him and work for his Church. 

Gideon Burton. 



* Rev. S. F. HotchKIN, K'egistrar of the Prutestant Episcopal Church, of the Diocese of 
Pennsvivania 



CONTENTS 



Adams, Juhn Quincy -^i', 1":' 

BarnM'S, Rev. Ai.hkk r'.> Tiu \i l')2 

BiDEi.L, Rev. Grki;orv Tiiir^^ion ^'-^ 

Bedell, Rkw ( ;Ki':(;r)RY 'I'own.-kn d <ir> 

Beeciikk, Rev. IIknuv Ward 1":; 

p]EEciiKR Rev. Lvm\n, 1).1> K'^! 

BiDDLE. Nl<:H(_iLAS, I'HIL A I > l-LPHLV •!•"> 

BisHoi', Mayor l-'"^ 

BuRioN, Beisev West 1" 

Burton, Jhhn IIammon ]0 

BuRTo.N, Rev. John IIexrv ">S 

Burton, K Multiicli '58 

Burton, Rohert i', 50 

Burton, Roi'.ert 1!edkli 38 

Burton, Wili i \m, M.1>., (iovfrnov cif Delaware ISGO 10 

Burton, Cait. William 1" o8, oG 

BushNEss Trips: To Cinciimxti, IS.'!!. -- 

" To New l';ngland (in .stage) in lS3i -'4 

" Second to the West o3 

Camfron. Simon 3;-5 

Cards I'l.vnino ok (14 

CHoLI-.RA, rillLADELLinA 1S:;_' •I'i 

Clnclnnah lS4i» 5 J 

Doctors durin(; 1819 142 

Cincinnati : 

Children's Home and Union Bethel '-'o 

K])iscopal ('hurche^: Church of our Saviour. il4 

Redemption, IS.")!) '••! 

St. John's .Org.mized, 184!> 8<) 

St. Luke's 1)4 

( 'onsolidation of Street Railroads 133 

Draft in I5ih Ward During the Civil War oO 

t ias Comp.my. 57 

Hotels in I84S 131 

lUirnet House (Dunklee, I'rop'r.) ll*7, 131 

(5) Merchants on Canal, 1S4S-1,S")() 13() 



6 CONTEXTS. 

ClxciXNATi: —Continued. 

Octogenarians, 1895 1-1() 

Signatures of Merchants reconim:Miding for Presidency of Fire In- 
surance Company 61 

.. s ai ^"'''"^^1' ^'Cn. Kirby, Raid of 54 

Steamers America and United States burned 134 

Supper to l-ith Ward Committee 5(5 

Wliolesale Dry Goods, Groceries and Hardware Stores, 1848 .... 138 

Clark, Rev. John A 37, 78, 81, 82 

Clark, Rev. Thus. M 87, 1-JU 

Claxton, Rev. R. Bethel 8'! 

Clay, Henry 40, 13, ^7 

Clayton, John M 10 

Combs, General'Leslie -13 

CO.MEGYS, Dr 51 

Confirmed ix 1828 71 

Cooke, Jay. 114 

Cope, Thos. P 121 

COUNCILNLYN l.jth Ward, Cixcixnati 57 

Emery, Thos. 1835 143, 144 

Emery, T. & J 144 

Episcopal Church, in the Uxited States 1825 (i!) 

First Coat, Sv;allo\v-tail Ui 

First Railroad Ride, ^1832 31 

Frame, Robert JO 

Gratitude 91 

Gray, Hox. Geo. U. S. Sexator 21 

Hawks, Rev. Francis L., D.I).. , . 84, 86 

Hayes, Ex-Presidext 83 

Hearnk, John D 59 

Hicks, Elias . - . ... 107 

Higbee, Rev. Edward Y. 1822 . 15, 85 

Hooker, General " Fuuiting Joe." . 56 

Hughes, Archbishop 108 

Indianapolis, 1831 26 

Inxes, Frank, Groomsman 37 

Jackson, President Andrew 32 

Johnson, President vVndrew 130 

"Jumper" — Runaway in 27 

Kentucky Hospitality 25 

Knee Breeches, Philadelphia 123 

Lee, Rev. Thomas, Uxiox Bethel, Cincixxati 9< 



(•ONTKN'IS. 7 

I, in;), Jk.nmk 1"'7 

I. ii'i'i.Ncorr, Joshua 1'.., I'liiiADKLPiiix 33 

Mammoth Cavk, Visn I o, ISol . . . •'! 

Marriki), 1S3"). '^'' 

Marshai.i., < iiiKi-- Ji'Si KK, Dkaiiiof 123 

McCaki'Y, Nicholas, Indianapolis -'> 

MOOKE, BiSIU)!', Va ^'-i 

MfJRTON, GOVKKNOK o|- TnDI ANA o4 

Morton, Rf.v. Dr., I'iiii.adi.i.imiia <S5 

Mori, I,r( RKTiA 107 

Nicholson, Rlv. Wm. K, D.D '')0 

Parkicr, Jos , 1 «:',() SO, K 5 

Paktnkr with J(^hnson iS: Tinclfa', I'iiii.aulli hia, 1S3-J IH 

Pf;nnsylvania Canai I'-'l 

I'HILAIiKLITlIA : 

lian'<s, 1S25 113 

Suspension of ')3 

Brokers 113 

Ilusiness houses : 

Most prominent retail, LSI'.") 115, IH) 

Wholesale dry goods 118 

Churches : 

iiiiptist 105 

Duteh Kefornied 105 

Episeopal, 1S-J5 !'5 

Atonement, Started from a Sunday' Scho(jl 87 

St. Andrew's 65, 67, 87 

'Friends or 'hiakers 107 

Lutheran, 1Sl'5 105 

Methodist 10^ 

Presbyterian (1 82.5-1 8;L')) 101 

Kornan Catholic, 1825 107 

United Presbyterian 106 

Hotels, 1,S2.5-1S30 • • • . . 122 

Lawyers, 1825 100, 112 

Merchants' Lxchanj^e, 1825 112 

Navy Yard 16 

Newspapers, daily, 1825 123_ 

Ledger and Transcrijil 124 

Old Walnut Street Jail, 1Sl'5 125 

Peal's Museum 15 

Physicians, 1825-.")5 125 

Sunday School Mission, Ccjinmissioners Hall, 1820 68 



8 CONTENTS. 

I'iM'.siDK.NT VouNG Mkn's Tract Socikiv, PHII.AUELI'H I A, 1832 75 

I'roctkk .S: Gamble, Cincinnati, 1831 143 

OuicLEV, Thos., Ranker 20, 4S 

Randall, Josiah 40 

Randolph, John 123 

Religious Boarding House 37 

Religious Life 02 

Robinson, Judge 11 

Rodney, Mary 13 

Rush, Dr. Philadelphia 14S 

Salesman, First Appearance as 20 

Scarborough, W. W. Clncinnati 60, 1)2 

SiNTON, David 55, 145 

Society for the Suppression oe Vice 50 

Steamers, Ohio, Before the War ];;4 

Sunday School Teacher (50 Years 04 

Tariff 47 

Theapers 64, 05 

Tin(;ley, Clem 13 

Ti)RBERr, Catherine M 37 

ToRiiERP, Col. Simpson 37 

TrtACr S:)CIETY, YoUTH'S AND YOUNG MEN's, PHILADELPHIA 74 

Trinmy, Doctrine of 75 

Vestryman, St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia 87 

Victoria, Queen, Picture of 120 

Voted for Henry Cl\y in 1832 (Maiden Cote) . 41 

Voted for Gen. Harrison, 1810 37 

Waite, Chief Justice. 84 

Wales, Prince of 128 

Wallace, C(jl. (now Gen.) Lew 51, 130 

AVashington, Visit -to, 183.'. 32 

"Waugh, (.\rtist) Philadelphia 32 

AVebster. Daniei 34 

AVeed, Thurdw 108 

'West Point 7U 

AVetiierill, J no Price 30 

White, Pishop 07 

WiLKiNs, Judge, 1'ittsburgii, 1831 22 

Wirt, Hon. W.\i , Letter from 77 



Reminiscences of Gideon Burton. 



I was born August lltli, 1811, on the homestead of my 
father, Ivobert Burton, about one mile from St. George's 
Chapel, Sussex County, Delaware, where I was baptized. 

My father was the fourth Robert, in the fiftli genera- 
tion from the first Kol)ert, who came fi'om London to this 
country. He was a man of strict integrity and great force 
of character, was ba|)tized and confirmed in the Church, 
and a regular communicant of the same. He was a Warden 
of the Church for many years, and was also a lay-reader. 
Ilis house was the liead(pnu"ters for all the Episcopal 
clergy who visited the neighl)orliood. He possessed four 
good farms and was the owner of sonic dozen slaves, most 
of whom he set free at tlie age of thirty-five. One of 
them, George, he set free at his death, leaving him ten 
acres of land, a yoke of oxen and cart. George is still 
livino; and was 79 vears old on the Fourth of Julv, 1895, 
the only living reju'esentative of the slaves, and I am the 
only living representative of ]uy father's family. ^ly 



10 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

mother, Betsey West Burton, died when I was fourteen 
years ohl. After her death, in 1825, we moved to Lewes, 
where my sister Mary Rodney, live(L My Father died, 
June, 1849, in iiis seventy-seventh year. Ilis marhk- 
monument stands in the Ciiurcliyard of St. Peter's Churcdi, 
Lewes, with this inscri[)tion, "Do justly, love nierc}', and 
walk humhly with thy God." 

My father was guardian for his two brothers, Jolm 
Hammon Burton and William Burton, also for liis step- 
])rotlier, my mother's half Ijrother, Robert Frame. John 
was educated by Mr. Shanklin, a learned Scotchman. Wil- 
liam studied medicine and graduated at the University at 
r*hiladelphia, and went down to Sussex, Delaware, to prac- 
tice "Brother lUll," said my father, "have nothing to 
do with ordinary polities, ami you will live to be Gover- 
nor of the State.'' Ten years after my father died he was 
elected (iovernor of the State of Delaware. 

Robert Frame, just mentioned, was sent to Princeton 
GoUege. He afterwarils studied law with Judge Tom 
Glayton, of Dover, Delaware, and married his daughter. 
He was after that engaged Avith John M. Glayton, 
in the celebrated Ghesapeake & Delaware Ganal case. 
Their fee was $10,000, which then was considered a 
large one John M. Clayton, the l)rother of the Judge, 



REiMINISCENCES OF GIDEON I'.UR'l'ON. J] 

Tlionias, a iioteil criminal lawyer, was afterwards United 
States Senator and Secretary of the State under ( ieneral 
Taylor's administration. He once said, "(live me Frame for 
the law and Ijates to cry, and I can clear any culpi'it in the 
United States." x\s my father charged him no fee for his 
jj;iiardianship, Frame told him that thereafter he would 
do any law Inisiness he wanted without charge. 

I heard my fathoi' say that when he left his father, 
to (}') business for himself, he purchase<l Sheridan's Dic- 
tionary and Blackstone's Commentaries, and his friend, 
who liecame Judge Robinson, laughed at the idea. They 
biith lived to l)e old men. Later in life my father rennirked 
to me that Judge Robinson ought to have kncnvn better 
than to act so, as he knew that the tirst volume of P)lack- 
stone's Commentaries had more in it than any book in the 
world except tlie r)ible. A1)0ut IS] 8 my father purchased 
a famn of over 400 acres in Baltimore Hundred, south of our 
homestead about twenty miles, the greater part of wliicli was 
a swamp covered with water. He found the soil to be rich 
and three feet deep, but to make it valuable it was necessary 
to drain it. He applied to the Legislature to have a 
canal cut to drain tlie swamp, the cost to be assessed on the 
adjacent properties, which was granted; the assessment pay- 
able yearly for ten years. This produced a great comnu)- 



12 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

tiou among the neighbors, and it looked as if they would 
never submit to it. Capt. Tunnell, one of the number, 
told me after the late war all the circumstances. He said 
as the yearly assessment was small, they concluded to i)ay 
the first assessment, and before the second one was due the 
water was leaving their land so fast tliey were satisfied 
to continue to pay. It was soon drained and those swamp 
farms j)r()ved to b(^ the richest and most valuable land in 
Sussex County. Then my father was looked upon as a 
wise benefactor. Many years afterwards he left his crop of 
corn in his cril)s the whole year. The next year there 
was a famine in the whole Township, or Hundred. Tlie 
foil )\ving spring h" called together some tliirty of his neigh- 
bors whose crops had failed. Ho told them they could 
have all the seed corn tln^y wanted, payal)le when they 
raised their crops. 

j\Iy father removed a large double building from the 
paternal homestead, to Lewes, about six and a half miles, 
and then added to it a new building, in them he lived 
twenty-four years. 

My mother was a lov(dy lady and a consistent Chris- 
tian. She had been mai-ried to Samuel Tingk^y previous to 
her marriage to my father She had two sons, Clem and 
Benjamin \V. Tingley. My father took great interest in 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON HURroN. 13 

the boys, gave tliein such ad vantages as the times permit- 
ted, a })hiiii English education, inchiding navigation. At 
the age of fifteen he placed Clem in the store of Thomas 
& James R. Fassitt, one of the largest wholesale dry gonds 
ami hardware stores in Philadelphia, at the southwest cor- 
ner of Second and Market Streots. I saw lately a letter 
from him to his parents dated 1810. Some years after, 
Benjamin followed. Both proved successful. Clem, at the 
a,ge of twenty-one, that is more than eighty years ago, 
received a salary of .| 1,000, for those days very 
large. In a few years he went into lousiness with one of 
the clerks, Moses Johnson, under the firm name of .lohn- 
son & Tingley, and a few years later with Ambrose White, 
under the firm name of White, Johnson & Tingley. In 
1825, when I w^ent t:) Phihidel[)liia, the linn was again 
Johnson <fe Tingley, with whom I was engaged to live. 

In 1818, we liad fi'ost in Delaware in every month of 
the year. No cro];)s matured. ( 'oni, frosted in its milky 
state, Vvas tlirown into ()[)('n cribs or pei^iS, that the sun 
might dry it, tlius pre[)ariiig it to be fed to stock. 

My sister, Mary at this tim;^ atten led Mrs. Lvmau's 
Seminary, Fourth below Spruce, I'!iilad(d[diia, witli Mariah 
White, daughter of Aml)rose ^\'hite, im)tlier of the late 
Geo. \V. Neff and sister to the late Peter A Wliite, of 



14 RK.\r[XISCENCES OF (IIDEON BURTON. 

('inciniiati Sho took the premiuui in \\"riting. The cele- 
brated writer, Mr. Rand, was their writing teaclier. I 
remember her double bladed, turtle-shell handled pen- 
knife, of the kind used to make quill })ens. 

Seventy years ago there were no steel or gold pens. 
Pens made from goose (}uills were the only ones used. 
Everybody carried a good pendcnife, one blade of wdiich 
was always kept sharp for this pur})0se. I think (billot's 
were the Hrst steel pens used. Rand, of Pliiladelphia, was 
the most celebrated teacher of penmanship in the country 
at that time. As no paper was ruled, the scholar was 
taught to sit with the left side to the desk and to hold the 
pen with lingers extende<l. Now all paper is ruled and, 
consequently, the body and hand may be held in any kind 
of position. 

She also had a piano made by Loud & Bros., Philadelphia. 
Among the [)ieces that she played were Washington's March, 
Patty Casey, Bird Waltz, Blue Eyed Mary, Robin Adair, 
and Pleyel's Hymn. In those days a piano was a great 
curiosity in the neighl)orhood. She married Henry F. 
Rodney, of Lewes, Del. Their eldest daughter, Hannah, 
is now living, 71 years of age, the wife of Bishop Benjamin 
Wistar Morris, of Oregon. 

In 1821 and 1822 I went to a countrv school a mile 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 15 

and a half from my fatlior'^; liouse at a place called Biindix 
Branch, to a teacher, Pitkin Minor, a native of Connccticnt 
and a graduate of Yale, a very superior man. He boarded 
with a Presl)yterian minister, Dr. Copes, who had (diarge 
of two churches, one at Cool S})ring and one at Lewes. 
There Avere in our school but two Latin scholars ; one was 
Erasmus Marsh, the son of our doctor, the other Edward 
Y. Higbee, whose father was our rector at St. George's 
Chnpcl and v^t. Peter's at Lewes. His brother ILigli HoUins- 
head, also went to school with us, and aftei-wards became 
an ^l. D. in Philadelphia. As I was slow at committing to 
memory I tliouglit when I heard them reciting their Hie, 
Haec, Hoe, Hie, Haee, Hoe, to the teacher, tliat T never 
should be able to learn the Latin language. 

One of the siglits, when I went to Pliihidel[»hia in 18'2o, 
was Peale's Museum, tlien in the second story of the ILill 
of Lidependence, also over tlie adjoining buiMing, where 
the vai'ious State and County offices have been. The bones 
of a manimot!), probalily twelve feet high, attraeted 
great attention. So did the old colored nuin wiio took 
profile for all who wished them. This museum \v;is after- 
wards over the new Arcade on Chestnut above Sixtli. I 
remember distinctly seeing the })ainting of DeWitt Clinton, 



W rei\iiniscencp:s of gideon curtox. 

who was tlie great patron of the New York & Erie Canal, 
also Govei'nor of the State of New York. 

Seventy years ago Fainnount Waterworks was a great 
attraction to strangers. At that time it was far out of town, 
at the falls of the Schuylkill River. It was indeed a won- 
der how Philadelphia, a city of between 125,000 arid 
1-10,000 inhal)itants, could be furnished with an adequate 
supi)ly of both water and power, steam being practically 
unknown. 

Another great attraction was the Navy Yard and the 
two immense buildings, under which United States shi})S 
of war were built. Here was constructed the mam mot li 
Pcnnsi/Ivania, 120 guns, probably the largest warship in the 
world. She was a sailing vessel, as there were no steamers 
in the United States navy at that time." She had l)een 
buildinof eiiiht or ten vears before this time, 1825, and was 
finished and launched about 18-15, hut as to this I am not 
certain, although T was ])resent at ilu' launching. She was 
indeed a monster, three or four decks deep. I also saw in 
the roads at Lewes, Delaware (where the Breakwater is now 
located), in 1822, two sloops of war, the John AddiiiH and 
the Cijdne, each of twenty-four guns. I was taken out to 
them in a whaJeboat in company with my l)rother-indaw, 
II. V. Piodnev, and hoisted on board in their gig. There I 



REMINISCENCES OE GIDEON I'.URTON, 



17 



saw the marines parading; the (k^ck, and the great guns, ench 
one on its truck at a }»orthoh' and ready for instnnt action. 
It was an interesting sight to me, a country hoy. T 
was mucli inijtressed witli tlie mnrtiid music, a new tiling 
to me, as usual in those days the hands playing " Yankee 
Doodle." Another attraction to me were the huge venti- 
lators, made of canvas, which ran vertically to the lower 
hol<l of the vessel and sup})lied it with air wlien sailing. 
I tliirdc the Pennsylvania was the last full rigged line-of- 
hattle sliip constructed for the navy, as steamers wore 
shortly afterward introiluced. In 1S25, in tlie roads, where 
the Breakwater now is, I saw the frigate Brandywine 
taking Lal^a}elte to his home after his last visit. 

In those days it was the custom of the hoys in the 
early morning to go over to Smith's Island, opposite the 
city, from ahout Market to Pine Streets, to hathe and swim 
in the Delaivare River. Now the Government has entirely 
removed this island, and where it stood is a good and dee[> 
channel. 

I rememher the construction of the great Delaware 
Breakwater at Cape IIenlo[)en, work on whi(di was com- 
menced ahout lS-26 or lS-27, under the supervision cd' Mr. 
Strickland, the architect, whose statue now stands in the 
State House at Nashville, Tennessee. Whv does not the 



18 reminiscp:nces of gideon burton. 

reniisylvaiiia Raili'oad make this a great !-hi|)ping point, 
as the Big Four has made Newport News ? 

j\Iy education was limited; my text boolcs being Pike's 
Arithmetic, Olney's Geography, and Murray's Englisli 
Reader and Grammar. Murray's Reader abounded in 
gems from such authors as Sam. Jolmson, Addison, 
Robertson, Bhiir, Gra}', Young and Cow})er ; many of which 
1 still remember. 

(3n tlie visits of my two half brothers to see my mother, 
and theirs, from year to year, I was impressed with their 
tine clothes and condition, and thought how pleased 
I should be could I go to Philadelphia. They said, "Boys 
nowadays are good for notliing." I thought to myself, 
if I got there, they will see if I am good for nothing. So 
at the age of fourteen my father accompanied me to 
Philadelphia. 

He told mo if I turned out to be a success, when 
I was twenty-one he would take mo to Europe, which 
at that day meant something; but when twenty-one, I took 
a })artnershi{) in tlie firm of Johnson & Tingley, receiving 
one-eighth of the net profits, which was $5000 clear, yet 
my whole expenses were only $350. At that day stores 
had no porters, boys di«l the work, sweeping out, and mak- 
ing fires. I remember distinctly my boss teaching me how 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON RURTON, 



19 



to Sprinkle the Hoor. I was of good size for my age; 
at til'teen I weiglied 115 pounds. I followed my brother 
Tingley when he was waiting on his customers, for 
he was a splen.did salesman and always had their confi- 
dence, which was well desei'ved, for I never knew him to 
lie. I lieard how lie addressed them, his manner was 
excellent, always trnthful, indeed it was a blessing to be 
raised by such a man, who was so devout a christian. He 
afterwards became an Elder in Clinton Street Presbyterian 
Church. He has been dea<l over twenty years. 

The first new coat that T ever wore was a swallow-tail, 
made by a man by the name of Stockley, one of the best 
tailors in Pliiladel})hia. located at the noiMh-west corner 
of Market and Fifth Streets. The style of coat fashionable 
at that time was the swallow-tail of blue clotli with brass 
buttons, having two rectangular ])ieces of cloth across 
the back of the waist. In the twenties, a plain white 
cravat wound round the neek was univeisally worn, 
and many still woi'e the rufHed bosom shiit. 'Jhe stock 
came into use in the thirties, 'idie cutter's name was 
Whistler, who, prol)ably being un<ler the influence of 
liquor, cut the coat with the na|) running up, whicdi 
made it (piite un|)leasant to the toucdi, and caused my 
comrades to laugh not a little at my appearance. This 



20 KEMIXISCKXCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

was my Sunday-go-to-meeting coat. The Ixiss told me the 
first $500 bill T should sell, he would give me a new coat. 
When I was ahout sixteen, not ohler, I sohl to John \V. 
Walker, of C'hestertown, ^U]., a bill of nioi'e than $500 ; so 
I got the coat. Among other goods packed in the ])ill, was 
tow linen for the negroes in Delaware, Maryhmd and Vir- 
ginia, this was their universal article of summer wear, 
a shirt and pants being about all they required in 
warm weather ; and I can say that at that time no sailing 
vessel in the world used anything but linen sails, and now 
there are very few vessels, if any, that do not use cotton. 

Within a few days after selling my -toOO bill, 
I sold a bill of .tlODO to Robt. Bowles & Co., of 
Lewiston, Pa. After this I was a salesman. About 
this time, Thomas Quigley, a tall, handsome, fine 
looking gentleman, commenced buying at our house ; 
Martin & Quigley, Princeton, Ky., was the name 
of his firm. Soon after lie moved to Bowling Green, 
Ky. He took a fancy to me, and had me wait on him 
wdien purchasing goods, and introduced a great numlier 
of his neighljor mei'chants to me. About the winter of 
1S;!0, I'eeling the necessity of a better education, I asked ni}' 
father to l)ea.r my expenses, including l)oar(l, that I might 
thus be improved. I entered upon the work with great 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 21 

7,e:il, arising at 4 a. m. uu 1 rotiriug late. I recited to an old 
teacher, Fr^d. S. Scofield, who lived on Third street, near 
Lonil)ard, and I boarded on Seventh street, second 
door north of Zane. Often liave I wondered at whal 
I learned in so short a time. Many of the rules of 
Murray's Grammar I i'ememl)er to this day. I took great 
delight in Piiilosophy; also in Rhetoric and Astronomy. 
None of them had I studied l)efore. My teacher was tlie 
father of Geo. S. Scofiehl, for many years ag.'iit of tlie Sun- 
day School Union a,t New York, wdio was eiglit}' years old 
at his death. A second son, Frederic, lately deceased, 
was })robal;)ly the oldest vestryman of St. Andrew's (Jhurch, 
Philadelphia. His sister, who was a teacdier, married 
Andrew <iray, the fatlier of George Gray the present 
U. S. Senator from Delaware. 

I would here say to young men, Make Uji your mind 
to be somel)ody, — birth is a blessing, but Gld Ap[)lication 
will reacli tlie top of the hill before (tciuus does. See the 
" Hill of Science " in Murray's Reader. 

When I was twenty years old, our firm wanted lue 
to take a tri[» across the mountains, to make trade and 
collect, but not to sell goods; no goods in tliose days were 
sold by sample I remember well the small trunk 1 t(xjk. 
I provided myself with warm clothing, as tlirected by my 



^^ REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

father, \vhom T consulted, as lie had traveled from Dela- 
ware to Cincinnati on horseback, in ISK), on a horse he 
had raised, called Bonaparte. Pie advised me to dress 
warm and kee}) my money in a belt, — not do as he had 
done when he was out West, leave his money nnder his 
pillow. I had a surtout, a camblet cloak, with cape lined 
wdth green baize, and a fine seal-skin cap. 

I left the Western Hotel, Market Street, below Eiohth, 
at two A. ]\r. al)Out the tentli of Noveml)er, in Reeside's 
stage. We had breakfast at Downingtown, where we 
took in the Honorable Judge Wilkins, of Pittsl)urgh, who 
had been Chairman of the Tariff Convention held at 
Music Hall, Locust Street, above Eiglith ; he was a Demo- 
crat. There were nine passengers in the stage, tliree on 
each seat. We traveled three days and three nights to 
Pittsburgh. Oh I how slee}»y I was when Ave reached that 
city. There I found many customers, among them John 
Bissel, Wm. M. Semjde and John Tassey. I accompanied 
Semple to the Presbyterian Cliurch on Sunday ; the Rev. 
]\rr. Riddle had just accoj)ted a call to that Churcli. His text 
was the first chapter of .lol). nineteenth verse, "And, behold, 
there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote 
the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young 



kKMINISCENCES OF GlbF.ON HURION. 



men, and tliey aro dead ; and I only am escaped alone to 
tell thee." 

From this city I went to Wheeling, where we had a 
good trade ; thence to Zanesville, on the National Road, 
then a great highway, the charter of whicdi was secured 
hy Henry C-lay, whose monnment stands hetween Wheel- 
ing and Cumherland to-day. Zanesville was then, 1831, 
a great distrihuting })oint for mails and stages. I diverged 
from tlie National Koad and went to Lancaster, Somerset, 
(hrcleville and Ohillicothe. At (Jircleville I was intro- 
duced to Gen. jNIcArthur, Governor of the State of Ohio. 
My journey from Circleville to Chillicothe was on the 
canal, then recently opened. This mode of travel was new 
and pleasant, much like traveling in a sleeping car at the 
present time. A xMr. Madeira kept the hotel at Chillicothe. 
At all these points I introduced myself and gave the mer- 
chants my cards. From Chillicothe, in company with two 
other gentlemen, I took a hack to Portsmouth. We enjoyed 
ourselves hy singing "Home, Sweet Home;" then I went hy 
steamboat to Ripley, where I had many customers, the 
C/ampbells, Evans, Hopkins, Liggetts, Humphreys, etc.; 
then I went to Cincinnati by boat. I arrived there 
after dark, and as usual, the steamboat on landing turned 
around, with her bow pointing up the river. Not being aljle 



24 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

to see, r did not take notice of this, ami when I went ashore 
I found myself as I thought, on the wrong side of the river, 
and now, sixty-four years since, have never gotten things 
straight. I stopped at the Pearl Street House, then lately 
built, torn down forty-six years since, ke})t in 1848, ^\hen I 
moved to Cincinnati, by Col. Xoblo, who was father of John 
W. Noble, the late Secretary of the Interior. On my arrival 
from the boat, I asked the clerk of the house not to i)ut me 
in a room too high up, as I was afraid of being burned up. 

That night there was quite a snow storm, and the 
next day, as T went out, I thought how beautiful this 
city is, how much like Philadelpliia. At that time 
they used wool exclusively, consequently the snow was 
very white. Pearl Street had just been laid out l)y 
David Griffin, a man of great enterprise, who died at 
the age of sixty-five. 

From Cincinnati I took the boat to Lawrenceburg. 
Here I knew all the merchants, and I think I sold 
all the trade excejit one house and that was lUiel & Lane. 
Lane was a brother of the celebrated Jim Lane, ()f Kansas. 
Here I bought a horse of Nerval Sparks and traded 
with OmerTousey for saddle, saddle bags, buffalo overs, 
legoins, etc., the last an article new to me, made of oTcen 
baize, covering the leg from the foot to above the knee. This 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 25 

was known ns the cold winter, snow staying on the ground for 
sixty or ninety days, all of which time the Ohio River was 
frozen. I had a customer, Erastus Tousey, cousin of Omer 
Tousey, of Lawrencehurg, who lived in Burlington, the 
county town of Boone County, Ky. I crossed the river 
to this place, and returned through the floating ice. It 
was court day, being the first Monday in the month of 
December. I called at Mr. Tousey 's store after dinner, 
when it was crowded with customers. He asked me to 
come around about sunset. As requested, I called, he 
took me to his dwelling, introduced me to his family and 
to a number of lawyers and doctors, whom he had invited 
to meet me, and gave me an excellent sup})er; in sociabil- 
ity I thought Kentucky contrasted rather favorably with 
Indiana. On returning to Lawrencehurg, I started over the 
snow on my horse to Brookville, Ind., a distance of tliirty- 
three miles, and arrived in the evening, being perfectly 
used up, not being accustomed to horsel)ack riding. Here 
I saw my friend Richard Tyner, father of the late Assistant 
Post-Master General ; his wife was a daughter of Governor 
Noble. Thence I went to Connersville, wdiere we had a 
number of customers, among whom were George Freyberger, 
Amsi Clark and Harvey Lewis. In the town was the resi- 
dence of Samuel Parker, a member of Congress, and Caleb 



26 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

B. Smith, who became Secretary of the Interior in 
Lincoln's Cabinet, and I thinls; the name of the tavern- 
keeper was Claypole. 

Thence I went to Indianapolis, via Rushville, arriving 
about sunset in the afternoon, the first week of Decembei'. 
The population was 1,200; old trees and stam[)s were 
smoking all along the road and around the town. Here I 
felt at home, as we supplied dry goods to three out of four 
of the houses, namely, Conner & Harrison, Brown & Mor- 
rison and Harvey Bates. Mr. Harrison, the last survivor of 
these, died last year, eighty-eight years old. We also sold 
Nicholas McCarty a few goods, most of whose purchases 
were from Siter, Price & Co., of Philadelphia. He after- 
wards failed, owing them $30,000 and gave up all his prop- 
erty to them on the condition that he should have ten years 
to redeem it. Before the ten years were ended the property 
was redeemed, and when he died I think each child of his 
received about 1100,000. Mr. Harrison fell at this time 
from a chair in his store and injured his head very much, 
and I heljjed to pull him home on a sled. Calvin Fletcher 
was our collecting lawyer. I went as far as forty miles 
west of Indianapolis, on what was called the National 
Road, but it had not been finished, to secure a (daini of 
$800, at Pulnamville, against a Mr. Townsend, who had 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON liURTON. 



27 



moved from Morgaiifield, Ky., some years before, and had 
laid out this town. I sta3'ed about two days awaiting his 
return from Louisville; as he did not return, I went over to 
Greencastle to see if his property had been mortgaged ; 
found it had not, and returned to Indianapolis. Thence I 
went to Greensburg and spent Christinas, which was 
Sunday, 1831, with Mr. Gallion, an old friend and cus- 
tomer, whose oldest son was named Henr}- Clay. He had 
three stores, one at Greensburg, one at Brookville and 
one at Napoleon. I had the August l>efore sold him over 
15,000 worth of dry goods for these stores. "Friend Bur- 
ton," said he, "I will rig you up a jum})er to-morrow, you 
need not have to ride on horseback, as it is line sleighing 
weather." So Monday morning he rigged me up one made 
of hoop poles and a drygoods box, costing $0.00. It was 
a beautiful morning when I started. As there was quite 
a hill to go down on the Micnigan Road, and the reins 
without supp(>rt lay close to the ground, I had no [)ur- 
chase on the horse, so he ran for miles, thdugh I was aide 
to keep him on the road, hallooing all the time, "whoa! 
whoa! whoa!" When I reached the first town, Napoleon, T 
got out and went into a store, found a numl)er of men who 
had been shooting their riHes at turkeys, and asked tlie pro- 
prietor what he would give me for my rig, he re}>lied 



28 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

"$o.50.'' I accepted it. T put my saddle on my liorse and 
went tliat night thirteen miles to Versailles, where nearly 
every building was a log house. Early next morning I liad 
mv horse shod and reached Madison the same day, where I 
was at home, knowing most of the merchants there. It 
was at that time one of the largest towns in Indiana. We 
sold V. & J. King, John Searing, Wm. Button, Benjamin 
Hubbs, and many others. 

Then I rode down the river to Jefferson ville, arriving 
about sunset, and found an acquaintance at the hotel, 
just leaving for Louisville in a sleigh. He was an old 
friend from Madison, lawyer J. F. D. Lanier, afterwards of 
the firm of Winslow, Lanier & Co., of New York; he 
recently died, worth some millions of dollars. "Burton," 
he said, "leave your horse here and go over to Louis- 
ville with m3 in my sleigh." "Wliit about the ice on 
the river?" "Yesterday", said he, "a load of iron went 
over." So I did as he requested, and stopped at the Louis- 
ville Hotel. Sunday, the first day of January, LS32, I went 
to Christ Church. The ilex. Mr. Page preaclied and read 
the service. This minister died in Pittsburgh a few years 
ago. His te.Kt was the tenth chapter of Revelation, fifth 
and sixth verses : "And the angel wliicdi I saw stand upon 
the sea and u[)on the earth lifted up his hand to heaven. 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 29 

and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who 
created heaven, and the tilings tliat therein are, and the 
earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and tljo 
things which are therein, that there sliould he time no 
longer." Then he gave out the hymn : 

"As o'er the past my uieniory stiay.'^. 

Why heaves the secret sigli ; 
'Tis that I moiini departed days, 

Sti 1 unprepared to die." 

The next day, January ■2d, I started on my horse to 
^lorgantielil, K\-., to collect a debt owed to us. I left 
at day-break, without a mouthful to eat : took l)reakfast 
and dinner together beyond Salt Kiver, eating chicken, 
and stopped only three-quarters of an hour to have 
my horse fed. Tlic days being short, night came on 
pretty soon, l)ut a mail-carrier, who led a. horse with the 
inail-l)ao- on his Itudv, was iroing on the same road, and I 
thought it would l)e safe to go with him. That day I 
traveled fifty-twij miles, and on no day afterwards did 1 
travel so long a distance. After reaching Moi'ganlield, 
I found my man had moved to ^lempliis. Here I spent 
Sunday, and thought one of the men of the house was 
rather heathenish, as he was out deerdiunting all day. 
Then I went to Princeton, where we liad considei'able trade — 
Pat Urey, Kackerljy, Duncan, and others — thence to 



30 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

Hopkinsville, where we sold Patton & Wheatly, George 
Ward, and others, thence to Cnarksville, where we liad 
customers — Billy Barksdale and many others, whose names 
I can not now recollect. I asked the old gentleman, who 
kept the hotel, and wore a queue, how he made such good 
coftee ; lie said all he had to do was to put enough in. 

Then I went to Dover, Tenn., where Lee & Shryer 
were ; Lee afterwards was Captain of the Old ILckory, dying 
after the war. I rememher selling him, when I was 
a boy, a large bill of goods of about $2,000, and 
askino; him where lie tliouo;ht I was born : " You are 
a Yankee," said he. I said, "If I had not been born 
in Delaware, I woali have been born in ^Lissachusetts." 
Thence I went north to Franklin and saw my old friend 
Wm. INIcGoodwin, whom I knew for forty years. Then 
I went to P)0wling Green. Here I felt at home with my 
old friend Thomas Quigley, who, years afterward, started 
me in the wholesale boot and slioe business on Pearl 
street, Cincinnati. He was an elegant business man, making 
most of his money in toljacco and pork ; moving to Louis- 
ville he became a ])ankor, and left a large fortune to his 
wife and children. 

At Bowling Green I sold to all the trade ; thence I went 
to Glasgow, passing the well-known Bell's Tavern, the best 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 31 

eating-bouse on the road between Louisville and Xasbville 
— venison, short biscuit, coffee and such luxuries were given 
us. I then visited INIaininoth Gave, and, on the road, in- 
quired of a man who lived in the neighljorhood where it 
was, who said he had never heard of it. I entered the Gave 
al)0ut sunset, coming out about eleven o'clock. The guide 
gave us venison. We went inside several miles ; found a 
corn-cob (which I brought home) that was twenty years old, 
oxen having been fed in the Cave in LSI], where they got 
saltpetre to make powder. Through Glasgow and Greens- 
burg I proceeded clear up to Lexington, via Danville, 
at which place we had a customer of the firm of 
P. G. & G. Rice, whose brother was afterwards a dis- 
tinguished Presbyterian preacher in Cincinnati. 

From Lexington 1 went to Paris, and drove one day 
from Paris to Tbrockmorton's, ten miles distant, over the 
celebrated Maysville Road — wliich General Jackson had 
vetoed — the muddiest drive I ever had. 1 reached Mays- 
ville when the flood of 1832 was very high, and it was 
one mile across to Aberdeen. On the top of the hill at a 
stable I sold for $00 my horse which had cost $S0. I 
then took the steamboat ''Versailles" to Wheeling, then 
staged it to Ellicott's Mills, and then horse railroaded 
to Baltimore ; there I stopped at Barnum's, the most 



62 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

noted hotel; then took the bhie coach to Washington, D.C., 
on the worst road then in the United States — the horses 
had no chance. I stopped at (_hids])y's Whig Hotel; Brown 
kept the Jackson Hotel. I went that evening to tiie Presi- 
dent's reception, thongh I knew no one, as I thought, but I 
found a customer, whose name was Glascock, from Faii'fax 
county, Va., who introduced me to a Captain Smith, and 
he to General Jackson. This finished my first trip to the 
western country. 

On my return, 1S32, the cholera came into this country 
from Canada, and reached Philadelphia. I went down to 
my father's in Delaware in July and August and returned 
in September. There I heard a sermon by Rev. Dan'l H. 
Higbee, father of the late Rev. Edward Y. Higbee, after- 
wards Rector of Trinity Church, New York, upon the flight 
of Jonah from Nineveh. 

In 1832 young ^^'augll was taking lessons in portrait 
painting, having letters of introduction from his uncle's 
firm, J. & X. P. Waugh, Greenville, Pa. He borrowed of 
me fifty dollars to pay his way home, as I supposed, but he 
went instead to Italy, there to be under the instruction of 
the l»est mastei's. I lieard nothing from him till ISJ2 or 
ISb"), wben he returned to I^hila(h'lphia and told me he had 
no money, but would paint for the debt. He then })ainted 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 33 

a most beautiful picture of my first and only daughter, 
Martha Siddons, who was about six or seven years 
old; he painted Hon. Simon Cameron, in lull length; 
also a picnic scene of Joshua B. Li{)pincott and wife, Mrs. 
George H. Ball, and other figures. The painting, I under- 
stand, is highly appreciated by the Lippincott family, who 
have possession of it. Waugh remained in Philadel- 
phia till he died, some fifteen or more years ago, much 
respected. 

In 1833-3d I made a second trip West. On this 
visit I collected $19,000, princi})ally in 1)ills of the United 
States Bank, and the State Bank of \^irginin, the onlv 
bank paper then in circulation. I bought a draft from the 
Commercial Bank, Cincinnati (lately failed), on the Schuyl- 
kill Bank of Philadelphia, and paid one quarter per cent, 
exchange rather than run the risk of being robbed crossing 
the mountains in a stage At this time Nicholas Biddle was 
the great mogul of the financiers of the country, and Presi- 
dent of the United States Bank, that liad its branches from 
Maine to Louisiana, and regulated tlie currency of the 
Union. At the failure of this Bank, caused by the hatred 
of General Jackson, many of the first families of Phila- 
delphia, who owned stock thei'ein, were maile bankrupts, 
and the whole country appeared to be ruined. I was 



;m 



ki:MINISCl':NCKS ()!'■ CIDh'ON llUklON. 



I<>i'(iiii;il(> ('luiii^li |() sliiiol a (leer iiciw Salciii, Ky., wliiw; 
a( full s|icc(|, willi a I'liilctl Stales Hint lock sliol-min. 

In is;; I 1 look a hip to New iMi^kiiuk l\iio\vinuj 
many agents who sold ^oods to us, I llioui;iit, 1 would like 
to sec what kind of a I'ountrv thi'\' luuk 1 went l>y way ol" 
New ^'o^k, slo|)|>iui;' :i( l>nid^(M-'s llolcl, on r>i-oadway ncai' 
Castle (iai'den, and loid-; a earria^'e di'i\'e tlirou^h the eily 
lo Lal'ayelte Tlaee, whiidi was then, 1 I'enuMuhei", in th(> 
most uoiMliern pai't of New ^'o^k City. 1 left on the b^ast 
l\i\er I'or New l!a\(Mi on a hoal which had the ('el(d)rate(l 
I>aniol W'ehstei' as a passenger. At New IIa\on 1 slopptMJ 
a( llu' 'I'online llouse, out' ol" the oldest hotids in the I'nilod 
States, opposite the caiui)us {)[' Valo ('ollei;"(\ " This," said 
T, ''I'cniinds me ol' Paradise." The t rcu's met o\'er tho 
sli'i>et, and 1 thoui;hl it was the most ht^uitiful plaei' I 
had e\(M' seen. 

I iheii we]d l»y staLi;e to Uartfoi-d. TTere T si)ent Sun- 
day, eoini;' to the l''pis('oi)al (Miui\di, and seeine- \]\c |>ow 
of Mrs. Sie'ourney, [\\c poetess. The sermon was preatdied 
l>y tlH> Ki'v. Mr. .\hei'er(>ml)ie. son o{' the l(\irned Kow 
hr. Ah(M'eromhit\ oi' rhiladtdi)hia. Thence 1 wiuit to 
Iniston l>y sta>;(\ jtassine- through Sprinulield, W'oi'ec^stcr, 
and a great many villaues. The stone fences SiH'uuHl 
to impress me as uiueh as aiiythine; ; the land was })oor. 



KKMINISCKNCKS OI- <,U)i.()S liCHION. .>•) 

At JioslOn I Stoj)J)<;(l id til',- 1IC\V hotel f;!il|(-(l til',- 'I'l'liiOli t 

Ilousr-, .sixty-oiio yours since, wliir-lj lias (IHO-jj h(;<'ii torn 
down, wliose cl<;rk ]>(tc/.i.]n(- tlio famous Stetson, of Cole-- 
nian & Stetson of tli*; A -tor- il'^use, New \'oi'k, ulio lonj( 
a^o made a fortune ami died. Mr. Stetson wus not'd for 
liis kjiO\vlf;dge of face-.s and eallin^^ of names. I tlj'ii went 
u[) to the- State Ifouse to take a view of the surrounding 
country. 'J'lie- State House is next door to tlic lioinc f^f John 
Hancock who si;.nied tin- I^^elaration of I ndc|,r-ij(]cjicr-. A 
gentleman, to whoni I had a letter, drove nic out \i<-l'()V<: 
hreakfast to Mt. Auburn Cemetery, and there I was jdeased 
to see, as I entered, the tomb of Spur/.hc-im, havin;^ heard a 
good deal about Sfjur/.hcim & Gallon jduenology. \\'(; then 
breakfasted at the lake <,]i fj-h and Saratoga potatoes. 1 
was perfectly deliglit(,'d with the character of the Xew Eng- 
huid people. 

Thence I went to Northampton. " \\<:y('," said I, " is 
the ju'ettiest place I ever saw; I will go back to Philadel- 
phia (I had made that year $5,000 clean, 1 will niake a for- 
tune, marry a wife, and live here all my lifetime." Near 
this jdace 1 visite<l the to]; of Mt. Holyoke. and as it was a 
clear day I saw the East and West liock at New Haven, 
sixty miles off. The view l^elow was elegant, on tliis 
June day, tlie fields were divided into lots and a{»peared like a 



33 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

ear})et, on account of the variety of crops. At two o'clock 
Monday morning I went in a stage to Albany, getting there 
about sunset, passing over the Berkshire mountains and 
stopping at tlie Temperance House. I thouglit I would 
like to hear the Rev. Dr. Kirk preach, as I liad heard him in 
1820, in Dr. Patterson's Church, in Philadel[>hia. I went 
out to one of the evening services and was gratified. I then 
went to Saratoga by railroad, tlirough Schenectady, tliis 
being the only raih'oad in New England or New York. The 
United States Hotel, Union and Congress Hall were about 
the only liotels at that time. 

Having been admitted in the year 1833, when I was 
twenty-one, as a partner to the well-known firm of Johnson, 
Tingley & Co., witli whom I had been seven years, my 
success depended in a great measure upon the action of the 
Government concerning tariff or protection; l)ut the country 
was tlie most of the time under Democratic administration, 
and the great influence of the importers in New York kept 
the tariff in a condition that we never could calculate what 
we would have from year to year. Finalh^ in 1837-38, the 
suspension of the banks tliroughout tlie country took place 
and the peoi)le resolved to have a change in the administra- 
tion, and (ieneral William H. Harrison was elected Presi- 
dent. Well do I recall ])u1ling in the first vote in my 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 37 

ward ill PliilaJelpliia for liim in 1840. An old gentleman caine 
up to me, after I had patiently waited, probably an hour or 
two, and asked the privilege of putting in the first vote. I 
apologized and told him it was too great a privilege after 
waiting so long (at this date all the wards in the city voted 
at the State House). 

December 1, 1835, I was married to Catharine Martha, 
daughter of William Torbert, of Bucks county, by my pastor, 
the Rev. Jno. A. Clark, in Philadelphia. My groomsmen 
were Dr. Traill Green, who has been a Professor and Presi- 
dent of LaFayette College, Easton, Pa., and who had a 
grand ovation from the Presbyterian ministers and ])romi- 
nent physicians of the State at the 80th anniversary of his 
birth; Frank limes, then of the firm of Spering, Innes & Co. 
Wholesale Merchants in Market street, Philadelphia, long 
since dead, and Col. Simpson Torbert, a civil engineer who 
laid out the Whitewater Canal, and whose clerk was Eras- 
mus Gest, one of the old citizens of Cincinnati, and who is 
now living. At this time two of my groomsmen and myself 
boarded at a religious boarding-house, where family wor- 
ship was conducted at ten p. m., and a blessing asked before 
meals, at both of which I assisted. How many Christian 
families now have "daily prayer?" 

We have had six children, all born in Philadelphia; 



38 REMINISCENCES OF (MDEON BURTON. 

one of tliem a daughter, Martlia Siddoiis, now living 
with me, her present name being Mrs. Joseph S. Morris. 

Tlie first son, Robert Bedell Burton, a graduate of 
Kenj'on College, Gambler, Ohio, died some fifteen years 
ago. Capt. William T. Burton, the second son, lives now 
at Clifton, near Cincinnati, O. The third son, Gideon C. 
Burton, died at the age of fifteen months. John Henry 
Burton, the fourth son, is now living near Philadelphia, a 
clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, having 
graduated from Hughes High School, Cincinnati, and from 
Kenyon College, of which he was the first honor man in the 
class of '67, being also a graduate from the Protestant 
Episcopal Divinity School in Philadeli^hia, in 1872. The 
fifth son, Kearsley Mitchell Burton, also a graduate of 
Hughes High School, is living at Mt. Auburn. 

I am happy that none of my children have brought 
disgrace on the family, and that all are honest and 
truthful. 

My wife and I lived happily together all our married 
life. She was a lovely lady, an excellent wife, a consistent 
Christian. She pleased me — I pleased her. 

Alexander Ferguson, a neighbor of mine on Market 
Street, Philadelphia, told me a story about 1838, of John 
Price Wetherill, one of the chief white-lead manufacturers 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 39 

ill the Ignited States. Mr. Ferguson said tliat Wetlierill 
spoke to Strutliers, wlio was the great stone-mason on 
Market Street, al)ove Tenth, ahout l)uilding him a fine 
dwelling (say a palace) on his vacant lot on the north- 
east corner of Thirteenth and Arch Streets, diagonally 
across from ^Matthew Newkirk's stone palace that had 
been built some years Ijefore. A gentleman from Boston had 
letters to Mr. Wetlierill, inquiring about the manufactui-e of 
white lead. He stopped in Philadelphia, at the United States 
Hotel, then opposite the United States Bank, on Chestnut 
above Fourth. He visited the Wetlierill dwelling on Twelfth 
above Ai'ch, which was a two-.story double l)rick. (_)ii one 
side of the hall was a parlor, on the other side a library. On 
ringing the bell, a supposed servant came to open the door, 
and not giving very definite answers, this gentleman spoke 
rather roughly, saying: " I wish to see Mr. Wetlierill I " 

"I am Mr. Wetlierill," said the man that opened 
the door. 

The gentleman delivered his letters, and was treated 
very kindly by the host. After leaving, he went back to 
his hotel and wrote a letter of apology for the manner in 
which he had spoken to him. A short time elapsing 
Mr. Wetlierill met "Sir. Struthers, and said : " Struthers, 
I shall think nothing more about putting up that building 



40 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

on that lot. If I can not grace a two-story brick building, 
I can not a marble palace." 

I think it was in 1845, that Henry White, a retired mer- 
chant, of Philadelphia, with Caleb Cope and Josiah Randall, 
father of the late Sam'l Randall, all three great protectionists, 
concluded that a mortgage held on Henry Clay's Ashland 
property, of -110,000, should be removed. No one was per- 
mitted to give more than^l, except families, in which case, 
each member of the family could give $1. I then had four 
children, viz.: Martha Siddons, Robert Bedell, William 
Torbert and John Henry. My subscription for them, with 
my wdfe and myself, made $(3 that I gave on the grand roll. 
A printed list of these names, and those of other subscribers, 
can be found at the rooms of the Historical So(dety in Phil- 
adelphia. Henry White, merchant, started for Lexing- 
ton, Ky., taking the stage at Harrisburg, and rode 
all the way to Lexington. He went into the bank at 
Lexington and asked if they had a mortgage against Henry 
Clay on the Ashland property. " With due respect to you," 
said the gentleman, "how is that your business ? " Mr. 
White handed him the draft for $10,000. The Bank had 
no intimation that such an arrangement had been made. 
On hearing of it, Henry Clay not knowing who did it, except 
that they were Philadelphians, said: "Who has such friends 



REMINISCENCES OF CUDEON BURTON. 41 

as I have?" He might liave added: " Who sucli enemies?" 
This circumstance T give entirely from memory, as I liavc 
never seen it published. I })ut in my maiden vote for 
Henry Chiy, in 1832. In no great city was Mr. Chiy be- 
loved so much as in Philadelphia. 

Some time before Henry White took up the .$10,000 
mortgafre, Mr. Clav on a hot summer dav came from 
F)altimore to Philadel{)hia via boat to Frenchtown 
and by l)oat from New Castle to Pliiladel})hia, (about thir- 
teen miles) by railroad across the peninsula. He arrived on 
Saturday night at Henry White's re-iidenee, Locust street. 
east of Broad St., about eleven o'clock. A crowd, including 
myself, waited at the liouse to see liim, on a moonlight 
night; we called out: "Clay! Clay! Clay!" Mr. White 
hoisted a window, which was on a veranda, saying that >[r. 
Clay was very tired and dusty, — they must excuse him. 
" Throw out his old l)Oot! " some one of the crowd cried out. 
He then came immediately out and said a few words, ami 
concluded ])y saying, " We are on the eve of the Sabbath, 
and as good citizens should retire." We all obeyed orders 
as if they were from one of our [)arents. Ne.xt day, Sunday 
morning, I attended the Epiphany, then at the corner of 
Schuylkill Fighth and Chestnut streets, S. H. Tyng, D.I)., 
rector. Mr. C'lay, attendeil ]>y Dr. Cha[)man and Col. John 



-i- REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

Swift (our mayor), mentioned below, sat well up in the east 
aisle of the church. When the minister sai.l "Let us pray," 
^Ir. C*lay l^owed reverently in })rayer, the other two sat still; 
then thought I, he is head and shoulders above them both. 
Not a word was spoken as they left the cliurcb; the crowd 
remained and shook hands as he passed. He moved down 
the street, south to Locust street, the crowd followed; men 
ran out of the alleys, in their shirt-sleeves, and many 
shook hands from their windows, — thus showing their love 
for him. 

Some years l)efore, I attended a barbecue given to him 
in West Philadelphia, on John Hare Powell's grounds. 

To-day I revere Clay's name — that of a man so pure, and 
the father of the American system, tliat made our country free 
from England and other manufacturing nations. On his 
leaving Philadelphia, a morning or two afterwards, from 
Walnut street wharf, I took my two oldest boys down to see 
him — the blowing of the steamer prevented them hearing 
him. I pointed to him, and said: "Now, my sons, look at 
him, and try to remember him — the greatest man living " 
To this day the mention of his name kindles a glow in my 
heart. He died a Christian, and now enjoys hapi)iness. 

In the Fall of LS4-1, when he was the Whig candidate 
for President, his election depended on the state of New 



REMINISCENCES OF CIDEON I'.URI'ON. 43 

York. General Leslie Combs, of Kentucky, met me on 
Chestnut street, above Sixth, and said : "Good news just 
heard from beyond the long bridge of Western New York; 
news that makes Clay elected." We l)0th went to the hotel 
kept by Jones, on Chestnut street opposite the Arcade, 
and he wrote a note to Air. Clay that he was elected. Next 
day news came that Polk was elected. There being no tele- 
gra})hic communi<>ation, he probal)ly thouglit for twenty- 
four hours that he was elected. General Combs hud been 
in the Mexican war. 

I get the following from .Judge Jose})h Cox, one of the 
three survivors of the thirty-four pallbearers: 

^Ir. C'lay died at the National Hotel, A\'ashington 
City, on the ^Oth of June, 1852, at 17 minutes past 
11 a. m. At the meeting of the Senate on the next day 
most eloquent and impressive eulogies were pronounced by 
Senators Underwood, Cass, K. M. T. Hunter, Clemens, 
Cooper, Seward, Jones and Brooks. The Senate ai)pointed 
as pall bearers. Senators Cass, Mangum, Dodge, Pi'att, At- 
chison and Bell ; and to attend the remains to Kentucky, 
Senators Underwood, Jones of Tennessee, Cass, Fish, 
Houston and Stockton. The funeral ceremonies took place 
on Thursday, July 1. The procession formed at the Na- 
tional Hotel and followed the remains to the Senate ('ham- 



44 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

ber, where the service was read and the sermon })reached 
by Rev. Dr. Butler, Chaplain of the Senate, now dead, in 
the presence of the President of the United States and 
both houses of Congress. His text was from .Jeremiah 
xlviii, 17: "How is the strong staff broken and the beau- 
tiful rod." After the ceremonies, the funeral cortege, under 
the charge of the Senate Committee, proceeded to Lexing- 
ton, Ivy., by way of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, 
Albany, Buffalo, Lake Erie, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincin- 
nati, Louisville and Frankfort, arriving at Lexington on 
Friday evening at sundown, on the 9th of July, and after 
the ceremonies of reception by the Committee at Lexington, 
the body was escorted to Ashland, and the final obsequies 
were celebrated on Saturday, July 10. 

At every point on the route of the funeral cortege 
from Washington to Ashland, it was witnessed by immense 
crowds, who exhibited the most intense sorrow at the death 
of so beloved and distinguished a statesman. The remains 
reached Cincinnati by the way of the Little Miami Rail- 
road, July 6, and were received by the Clay Guards of Cin- 
cinnati, a body of young men, wearing drab hats with dark 
bands (inscribed with Clay's name), black coats and white 
pantaloons. They numbered thirty-four — seventeen on 
each side of the hearse, the right column led by Henry 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 45 

Clay Pate, afterwards celebrated as the leader in the fight 
against Jolm Brown at Ossawattomee, Kan., and the left 
by Jos. Cox, now Judge of the Circuit Court. In addition 
there were the following : Dr. Thomas 0. Edwards, C. C. 
Brown, H. Clay Berry, D. V. Bennett, D. L. Dickinson, 
J. Avery, H. B. Taylor, H. W. Burdsal, Joel Barlow, J. 
Rutherford, T. A. Vallette, D. H. Crane, John Pendery, 
Jos. Phillips, Jacob Traber, J. R. Wade, C. (3. Andress, 
H. T. Hinsdale, T. C. Zells, A. G. Burt. T. Collins, G. W. 
Taggart.. C. S. Abbott, W. C. Thorpe, W. Hank, A. Paddock, 
W. B. Cassily, Chas. Wetherby, Chas. S. Sargent, C. C. 
Guilford, J. White. 0^ these but three are now living : 
Messrs. Paddock, Wetlierhy and Cox. The })rocossion 
was very large, and composed of military, firemen, citizens 
on foot and in carriages, and passed west through Fourth 
Street, and thence to the foot of Fifth Street, where the 
bod}^ was placed on a magnificent catafahjue aboard a 
steamboat, which, with two others lashed to it, filled with 
passengers, then proceeded to Louisville where it lay 
in state all night, and then to Frankfort and to Lexing- 
ton. At each place the Cincinnati Clay Guards were 
given the post of honor. At Lexington the remains 
were handed over by Senator Underwood with an impressive 
speech to the Lexington Committee, and were received by 



4G REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

Chief-Justice Robertson, with brief and eloquent remarks 
At the close of his address the procession was formed, 
headed by a cavalcade of horsemen and preceded by the 
hearse, followed by the Senate Committee, the deputation 
from New York in carriages as mourners ; the Clay Guards 
of Cincinnati ; deputation of 14 men from Dayton, 76 from 
Louisville, and citizens in the rear, and proceeded to the 
Ashland home. 

There the remains lay until next morning, watched 
over by the Clay Guards of Cincinnati, during this, the last 
night before sepulture. When almost midnight, Mrs. Clay 
came in alone to })ay her last visit to the corpse, and the 
guard withdrew fur an hour, that she miiiht not be disturbed. 
Early next morning an immense concourse gathered. "Upon 
a bier cushioned with flowers, and immediately in front of 
the door, they laid the iron coffin that inclosed the body of 
Henry Clay. Upon it shone a clear, cloudless sun ; upon 
the breast of it reposed the civic wreaths, while strewn 
around were the floral ofl\n-iugs of every })rincipal place 
from the National Capital to the grave " The funeral 
services were preformed by Rev. Edward F. Berkley, rector 
of Christ Church, Lexington, now living in Missouri, and 
tiien the long procession was formed in the same order as 
it came, and proceeded to the cemetery at Lexington, where 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 47 

his body was deposited to rest till the morning of the res- 
urrection. 

The change of the tariff so often in those days made it 
impossible for the country to be in a steady condition. 
Polk's administration changed the tariff of '4'2 to the Walker 
tariff of 184(3, and " Tolk, Dallas and Tariff of '42," had 
been on their banners at and before the election. 

I give short extracts from the New York 7V/6/M/r, dated 
Jnly 30, 184G : 

"The tariff bill of Walker and McKay has passed both 
Houses of Congress, and has doubtless ere tliis received the 
signature of the President. It takes effect Decemljer 1, and 
as the law of the land it is henceforth to be obeyed by all. 
We believe the change just made entirely wrong, flagrantly, 
grievously wrong, yet we shall studiously avoid ' panic 
making.'" 

" When the crisis has been met with manful resolution, 
we apprehend that there will be quite disaster enough, suf- 
fering enough, because of this great national mistake. We 
fear that thousands upon thousands Avho would have been 
steadily employed and comfortably situated during the en- 
suing winter, if this bill had not passed, will now be desti- 
tute of employment and dependent upon charity for 
bread." 



-IS REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

About this time, 1841, having bought tlie interest of Mr. 
.lolinson, I went into partnership with ^Iv. Tingley, under 
the firm name of Tingley & Burton. Finding, in 1847, 
times so hard, and 3^et our credit first-class, we con- 
cluded we would open a branch silk store at Cincinnati. 
80 on the 1st of January, 1848, after advertising in 
the newspapers west, and sending out over 2,000 circu- 
lars to men who were represented as being first-class 
by Goodrich & Co., Mercantile Agency, Philadelphia, 
who had written me up books giving the names of 
first-class merchants in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illi- 
nois (these circulars were taken off on stone, and at that 
time but few knew they were not written), we opened 
our stock; but unfortunately unknown to me, our firm 
at this time, though in splendid credit, proved insolvent. 
Had not this been the case, things would have been very 
different, as I had succeeded at Cincinnati, and was in 
advance of the age. Our Philadelphia house had a large 
trade in the South which was very uncertain. In three 
years T closed out the store and took two years to get out of 
debt, having given up every dollar I had. In the mean- 
time, my friend Quigley, of P)0\vling Green, asked me my 
condition. I t<)ld him I had nearly paid my del)ts, but 
I would have nothing to put in lousiness. He said that 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 



49 



he had something and would start me. He tlien started 
me as a special partner, and soon made tlie caj)ital 
>f35,000, under the firm name of Gideon Burton, Wholesale 
Uoot and Shoe Store. We then hought out Johnson, 
Pritchard & Co., 32 Pearl street, which firm moved to 
l)Oston, and after nine years business I ])0ught out Mr. 
(^uigley, giving him $100,000 for his $35,000. 

In 1S4S, when T moved to Cincinnati, I remembered 
the locality of the i»ew in which President Adams had sat, 
and asked whose it was ; they said Grocsbeck's. He 
v.'as the father of the Hon. W. S. Groesbeck. Some two 
years ago I asked Mr. W. S. if he rememl.)cred that John 
(^uincy Adams sat in his father's {)ew? "Well, vcs," he 
said, "this was fifty years ago." The church was long ago 
torn down, and on its former site stand some of the finest 
stores in Cincinnati. 

Buffalo Hunt about 1S49. A\'ood, wbo kept the Mu- 
seum on the northwest corner of Fifth and Walnut sti-eets, 
advertised a buffalo hunt to take place back of Cov- 
ington. Crowds went over to see it. It was a hot, dusty 
day. Indians were to shoot the buffaloes ; they would not 
run. It i)roved a farce, and next day no one could be 
i'ound who would acknowledge being on the ground. 

No doubt it will be interestiug to manv to sav some- 



50 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

tiling about the cholera, in 1849. I went to Lewes, Del., in 
June of that year to the death-bed of my fatlier, who died 
on the loth of June, the same day that the PresidcMit of the 
United States, James K. Polk, died. After I returned to 
Cincinnati, the cholera became very destructive. I had 
been advised by my physician to keep a prescription of cal- 
omel, camphor and o})ium in my pockets in case of an at- 
tack, and I also had a liquid, always prepared, which was 
a prescription of Dr. Vattier. 

About five o'clock, on a Sunday morning in August, T 
was awakened by an attack. I immediately took a dose of 
the liquid, then called up my son to take the recipe to the 
druggist. He returned, I took it according to directions, I 
tlien sent for my physician. Dr. Richards, who, when he 
came, said I did perfectly right, as I would have been past 
recovery had I waited for him. I lay on my back till the 
next morning and when the doctor came, he said, "Your 
liver has been toucheil and you are saved." 

This Sunday the Ilex. Dr. Nicholson, whom we had 
called to St. John's, preached his first sermon at Christ's 
Church, and Mr. John AVinston, of Meade & Winston, 
called on me that day to see me. I understoo<l that Air. 
Nicholson preached on the text, ''Enoch walked with God 
and was not because God took him," an<l Judge Storcr 



rf.miniscp:nces of r.inp:ox burton. 



51 



remarked that lie thoni;lit he wouhl ''run u[) to seed'' 
meanino- that he would become a high churehiiiaii, which 
he never did. 

Dr. Coiiiegys says that the clmlera broke out in A[)ril, 
1<S49, the second visitation of that awful pestilence. It 
came by way of New Oi'leans, and its ravages continued to 
the middle of August, of the same year. He thinks he saw 
the first case in this city in A[)ril, on Liberty Street, east 
of Broadway, in consultation with the late Dr. Bettman. 
The patient was a German emigrant who had just arrived 
from New Orleans. It soon broke out over all the city in a 
most disastrous manner. On the 23rd of Julv 180 })ersons 
died. The whole [lopulation of the city proper at this 
time was about 115,000. All who could fled. The physi- 
cians without exception stood their ground ; but few of 
them died. It was thought by some, as Bittsbui'gh was 
but slightly artVcted, that perhaps coal smoke was a })re- 
ventive. I had a large pile burning in my back yai'd, 
located nearly opposite the Wesley Chapel, I']ast Fifth, 
next door to Win. Neff, Es(p It proved of no effect. 

About 1856 or ISoT, while in the shoe business, I 
wanted a bookkeeper, and jidvertised for one free from l)ad 
language and not afraid to work. .V young nnin, (u'oi-ge 
C. Swan, wh(j had been Cash clerk at Kilev cV' Wood's 



52 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

iiortb-east corner of Vine <Sl Fifth Streets, called on me and 
offered his services. He was a genteel person and wrote a 
beantifiil hand. I told him I would give him $1200 a year 
as bookkeeper, on condition that he went to a gymnasium, 
as he was quite stoop-shouldered and I thought could not 
otherwise stand the labor. He proved to be a very capable 
and conscjentious young man. 

After being with me probably two years, a gentleman 
who had gone into the banking business in Covington called 
on me, asking if I could spare him to be his Cashier. 1 
told him I felt sorry to lose him but feeling an interest in 
young men, particularly in him, I would accede to it and 
without being asked went on his bond. Just before the war 
]>roke out this banker quit business and Swan got a situa- 
tion at Lockhart & Ireland's, the well known large Dry 
Goods House on Pearl Street, remaining with them as their 
trusty cashier anumber of years, during which time the house 
made a fortune. He then with his wife, having no children, 
went to California where he still lives. Some UiW years 
ago I got a charming letter from him si)eaking of old times 
and saying that he was in the Agricultural Business and 
the president of an Agricultural Society engaged in raising 
tropical fruits. 

In the fifties, the firm of Sherwood & Chase, dealing in 



RKMINISCF.NCF.S OF OIDF.ON lUIRTON. 53 

hats, failed. Mi'. Sherwood was a Seoteh-Irishniaii of <^ood 
reputation. Desiring to compromise witli their creditors in an 
acceptal)le manncu- they selected two men from Pearl Street, 
merchants of j2;ood (diaraeter, namely Bovven Matlack and 
Taft to examine into their afi'airs, and i-eport what they 
ought to pay their crciditors. After a thorough examina- 
tion they reported fifty cents on the dollar. Mr. Sherwood 
went East with this proi)osition, and succeed(!d with all 
his creditors excepting one in l^oston, a very large, I'ich 
house, with whom the larg(! shoe hous(! of M. 10. Re(!ves A 
Co., ke[)t their cash account an<l from whom they hought a 
large amount of merchandise. This house declined any 
settlement. 

Early on(; morning, Ixdore breakfast, 1 found Mi". 
Sherwood sitting way oil' hy himself in the American 
House, as I thought "like a sparrow on a house; toj)." I 
thought perhai)s I might render some service to him. He 
stated he conld do notliing with this house ; I think he 
owed them about $5000. Knowing Mr. M. K. Reeves inti- 
mately, being myself in the same line of l)usiness, I went 
the next morning, before breakfast, to the llevere House to 
see him on the subject. After stating the case with as 
much effect as I could, he i-eplied, "Do you indorse all 
this?" "I do," said I, and left him. That day Mr. 



54 REMINISCENCES OF CIDEON BURTON. 

Reeves called U[)ou the firm and through his solicitation 
they accepted the compromise of Mr. Sherwood. Mr. 
Sherwood's son is now reporter for the Commercial Gazette. 
In 1803, at the time the city of Cincinnati was tlirea- 
tened hy the Kirby Smith raid, Ex-Mayor Bisho[), Col. 
Guthrie of the 2nd Kentucky Regiment and myself, waited 
upon Col. Lew Wallace, in charge of the Cincinnati de- 
partment of troops, at the Durnet House, and asked him 
to declare martial law at once, which he did the next day. 
I had known, as a merchant in Pliiladcdpliia, lSo4, the Col- 
onel's father-in-law, Isaac C. Elston, from the \Val)ash, Tiid., 
and thus claimed aslight acquaintance with him. The condi- 
tion of Cincinnati at this time was truly awful — to use a 
a word every day improperly applied. What would come 
next no one could tell. Governor Morton of Indiana, a 
noble })atriot who fought the Knights of The Golden 
Circle, hurried all his available troo})S to Cincinnati 
to save us. Regiment after regiment came down 
and crossed the river on pontoon In-idges, as then 
we hail no bridge across the Ohio River. Citizens uj)on 
citizens rushed over to Covington, working in the 
trenches. Among the regiments were the squirrel hunters, 
with their long small-bore rillcs. Our Governor Todd, 
then a democrat, was loyal and gave all the assistance he 



RKMINISCENCF.S OV GIDEON BURTON. 



55 



could. Wliilc living on Broadway, below Fourth, one hot Sej)- 
teinhcr night, ))ast midnight, T was wakened hy a shi'ill sky- 
rocket, certainly the most shocking sound I had ever heard. 
Many of the volunteers were on the Cincinnati side, waiting 
a notice of an intended attack l)y Kirhy Smith. I thought, 
why don't they at once rush over? ^\'hy the d(day? Their 
regiments were fed, shall I say entertained at the market- 
houses, on Fifth Street. Four of us had charge 
of the distribution — Peter (libson, Maj. O. IE. (leoffroy, 
Nick Patterson and myself, ladies in abundance helping 
It was truly a sight. ITow \ve felt towards them — yes, 
loved them. It was a daily task for some time. The 
citizens were expected to hang out their flags, especially 
some democrats not thought very loyal. I rememl)er Mrs. 
Louderl)ack, who kept an ice-cream and cake cstal)lish- 
ment on E^ourth St., rushed to one of her friends who had 
not i)ut out his Hag and forthwith it came out. The 
populace were in a state of great excitement. The mer- 
chants did not know what would become of their stock of 
goods should the rel)els cross over. 

Knowing Mr. David Sinton, who had been a cus- 
tomer of mine Ijefore the war commenced, T asked him if 
he would guarantee my stock of l)oots and shoes (value 
$35,000) good against the rebels for 10 [)er cent., but he 



S6 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

refused. Afterwards the city council, of wliich I was a 
mem])er, ordered a splendid portrait in oil of Governor 
Oliver P. Morton, painted by T. Buchanan Read, as a mark 
of gratitude for saving us by sending his troops so quickly 
to Cincinnati. There was at this time a company of old 
men — Hon. Bellamy Storcr being one of their number — 
called the Home Gnards. 

In the fall of 1864 we had a draft in my ward, which 
was the Fifteenth, afterwards the banner ward. They 
elected me Chairman of the Comiuittoe to get the ward out 
of draft, at which time a great many were enlisted. We 
sent about thirt}^ or forty men to my son, \Vm. T. Burton, 
then Lieutenant, who had charge of Company B, 7th 
Ohio Cavalry, placed at that time near Cumberland Gap. 
We collected between fifty and sixty thousand dollars, and 
on April 13th, 1SG5, the Committee was honored withafine 
supper at the St. Nicholas, costing $800. The committee 
consisted of Gideon Burton, Herman Lackman, Thomas E. 
Hunt, Benjamin Robinson, Joseph Smith, Joseph DeCam[t, 
T. F. Randolph, I. H. Heinsheimer, A. L. Frazier. I had the 
honor of presiding at the supi)er. Fighting General Joe 
Hooker sat at my right, and the " Spread Eagle," Rev. Air. 
Craddis, at my left. INIost of those present are now dead, prob- 
ably half a dozen of them are still living. Among those that I 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BUR'J'ON. 5( 

reniein])er were Josiah Kirl)y, ('n})t. Ilarrv Tateni, l^zekiel 
DeCaniji, Tlios. E. Hunt, Ilenuan Lackman and Win. Powell, 
of Mt. Auburn; the last took great interest in getting up the 
supper, and handed to me the other day the menu. Upon 
examining it I find huti'alo tongue the only article included 
in it that cannot he supplied now on account of the extinc- 
tion of the race of Initfaloes. Mr. Powell has since died. 

In the fall of ISG-") our ward thought that as I had taken 
such interest in getting them out of the draft, I should 
be elected their member of the Council, which I was, without 
any opposition. When, shortly after, the contract of the 
City for gas had nearly run out, being greatly interested 
in the question, I visited the principal cities of the 
East to ascertain at what [)rice gas coukl be furnished to 
our citizens in Cincinnati, and at Pittsbiirgli 1 found an 
old retired merchant who was a member of the Committee 
on Gas, who gave me a full statement of what it cost 
them. On the eve of our election I reported through the 
Gazette that, from all the information I could get gas could 
be furnished to the citizens of Cincinnati for .|1 a thousand, 
and the next day the citizens voted to buy out the Company' 
b}^ a majority of nearly 5,000. I suggested that should they 
buy it out, the parties managing it should be non-partisan, 
and proposed three out of the number, Jos. C. Butler, 



58 RKMIXISCENCES OF GIDEON liURlON. 

Ilenrv Kessler and Miles Greenwood, all of whom are now 
dead. What was done we all know. I can also state 
that at one of our elections a superintendent of the Gas 
Company marcdied up a large company of the employes 
in a body to the polls to vote for their cause. 

Before my term in Council liad expired I moved into 
what was called the Sixth Ward, and Mr. Jolin (Jates 
was elected in my place in the Fifteenth Ward. The In- 
dianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette Railroad wanted the 
Gliio & Mississippi Railroad to come up tlirough the canal 
with tlieni, in place of running South, where they were. To 
effect this the road must have the a[)proval of the City 
Council. They took extreme measures to com})el the 
Ohio & AEississippi to agree to their suggestion, and 
bought up a numl)er of the C'ouncil, irrespective of 
l)arty, for this purpose, giving one party a house and lot, 
worth some thousands of dollars. Mr. Gates and mys(df 
were invited down to visit headcjuarters ; there they dis- 
playetl to us their ma[>s, and the amount of properly the 
I. C. & L. owned, hoping thus to influence us, but, know- 
ing our character, they made no offer. The Council 
voted to turn off the 0. & M. Road, but it had twelve 
months to remain. In the lucantime it bought u\) the 
Council and remained where it was. Beina' a friend of 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON liURl'ON. 59 

the 0. it M. Road, and thinking tlicy had equal rights 
with the r. C. & L., I asked the jiartics liow coukl thes' 
have done such a tiling. They answere(l: "The other Road 
had no riglit to get })erniissioii to order us out, and we 
thought it no impropriety to take the same measures to 
get hack." 

I served two years as President of the Society for the 
Supj)ression of Vice, a society then little known, yet one 
of the most important moral organizations in the country. 
John D. Ilt'arne, Esq., is now President of the Cincinnati 
hranch. 

In 187.S, owing to the depreciation of stock, bad del)ts, 
and some unfortunate investments, known only to my son 
Robert and myself, and the failure of a hat house I was in- 
terested in, I found myself insolvent. 

As yet no note had been jn'otested, and my creditors not 
knowing my condition, I called over my friend, Washington 
Lee, of the lirm of Hearne, Lee & Pinckard, to look at 
my books with my book-keeper. After an examination, 
he thought I could pay fifty cents on the dollar. 
Mr. Lee, by invitation, accompanied me to Boston, called 
my creditors together and made a report of every- 
thing I had. I would say that had I been younger, 
perhaps I would have run the risk of continuing in busi- 



60 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

ness; but being sixty-nine years old, I felt my strength 
would uot enable me to do it. My creditors thought that I 
should pay more than fifty cents. " Why," one })orson 
remarked, "You ought to i)ay seventy-five cents." " Well, 
gentlemen, if you think so, I will give you my extended 
notes at seventy cents on the dollar, or I will give you sixty 
cents first-class indorsed paper." The latter they accepted. 
I then thought " What shall I do for a living^ " Just thou 
Mr. Harvey DeCamp, President of the Farmer's Fire 
Insurance Company, died. " Now, here is a chance for 
me," I said. So I determined to get recommendations for 
the office. I went the same evening to my old friend, 
W. W. Scarborough, of Walnut Hills, asking him to draw 
up a recommendation for the office of President of a local 
fire insurance company. " Certainly," said he, and in a 
few minutes he gave it to me with his signature. The 
pa})er read as follows: 

" We, the undersigned, merchants and residents of 
Cincinnati, having known for twenty years or more, 
Gideon Burton, who has been for that time a fellow- 
merchant, take great jdoasure in testifying to his high 
standing, his thorough integrity and untiring industry, 
identified for so many years with mercantile interests of 
Cincinnati, intimately connected and acquainted with its 



RKMINISCF.NCKS OF GIDEON BURTON. 



(il 



biii^iness men, and with tliose who are engaged in manu- 
facturing". He would, for the position of head of an 
Insurance Company, l)ring to its advantage this knowledge, 
and would necessarily add to its business, which his own 
good judgment eould care for, to make it a [trolit and 
success." 

Cincinnati, November 23d, ISTS. 

The following are the names which headed the list 
containing about 105 more merchants and manufacturers : 

W. W. SCAKP.OROUGH, RonKRT MlTCHKLL, 

JonX SlIILLITO, 

David Sintox, 
B. F. BiiAXXAx, 

JoiIX K[L(iOUR, 

D. J. Fallis, 



IvK'MARD Smith, 
IIknhy Lp:wis, 

1). B. PlKKSOX. 

A. S. WiNsi.ow, 

W. F. Tii()i;ne & Co. 



This nuuiuscript I still have. Mr. Adam (iray, who had 
the agency of a number of companies, met me at this 
time and suggested a partnership, which I accepted. 
Both of us had been unfortunate in business, and both W(^re 
energetic — he had been but little known, I had been a mer- 
chant in the city foi' thirty years. A\'e had been in business 
but a short time when we had offered to us and accepted the 
agency of one of the oldest and largest companies in the 
world — the London Assurance. They re(|uired a bond of 



62 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

five tliousaiul dollars. I remarked to Mr. Gra}' that I would 
attend to this, and when his other eompanies saw tlie names 
of W. W. Scarborough, B. F. l^rannan and Martin Bare as 
bondsmen, they were a little astonished, as pi'obahly neither 
before had ever gone on any bond. Mr. Gray was a man of 
great ability and energy, proljably none more so in the busi- 
ness. Fi»r the last eight years I have been by myself in 
the insurance business, and, am happy to say, making a 
comfortal)le living, and my course of life has been such 
that T fear not to face any one on the ground of integrity. 

MY RELIGIOUS LIFE. 

My mother taught me when I was a little chihl, l)efore 
I retired to bed, to kneel down before her and say the Lord's 
Prayer, and " Now I lay me down to sleep." My older 
brother, who was afflicted all his life-time, was very reli- 
gious. His exam[)le made a good impression upon me. 

While T was young, we churchmen, as we then called 
ourselves, had church only once in three weeks; other 
denominations being more zealous, had their meetings 
weekly or oftener; they thought less of us tlian they should 
have done, They once took in a man whom my fatluu' 
knew to be dishonest — of course he felt badly under the 
circumstances — he said to me: " My son, we btdieve in 



REMIXISCENCES OF (IIDEON lU'R'l'ON. 



C^?, 



Christianity, Imt let me say that you will never "et to 
heaven if yon are dishonest." This saying has followed me 
all my life, and thus saved my eonscienee when [)nt to the 
test. T will add ho had family worship every Snnday 
moi-niiiij; and evening, and eate(diised the children eveiy 
Sunday night. 

I distinetly recollect my first Sunday in Philade]|ihia. 
We boarded at loo Market street, with a Quak(M- lady, 
named Milnei'. The first chui'ch organ T ever listened to 
was at St. Paul's ('hurch, Third helow Wadunt, of whi(di 
the Rector was the lUv. Bi^ijamin Allen. 'Jdie clei'k who 
read the responses was name(l Iln-^hand, and his son was 
tlie artdiitect of tln^ First Preshyterian Chnich of Cincin- 
nati rebuilt 1S5(). At night my brother Px'njamin took me 
to St. Andi-ews, whose Kector was the Rev. ^Fr. PxMhdl. It 
was the first Sumlay of the month of Xoveird)er, the 
sermon was didivered to young men; a tall young man 
l)y the name of Clemson, read the service. lie dieil a i'vw 
years ago at a very old age. The church was crowded. I 
sat on a front seat near the chancel. I remember reading 
on the wall over the chancel, " Holiness beccuneth Thine 
house, () Lord, forever." In 1888 I visited the same 
Church again, ami saw the sentence still there. 

I had been with Johnson & Tinulev about a vear when 



Cyi REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BUR'ION. 

Mr. Jolmson's ik^])1)o\v, Jolm M. Taylor, and nnotlior yoiiniz; 
man in tlio store, took me into tlioii- room to teach me bow 
to play cards. I had gone Init a ver}^ short distance in the 
lesson before the door opened and bis nncle, who was a 
Presbyterian, appeared and scolded bis neidiew for teaching 
me. "John," said be, "you do not know but this may })e 
the ruin of this young man," thus \vbip})ing me over John's 
shoulders. I thought that I was ruined at once, bad lost 
all character in the eyes of my employer, when I bad made 
up my mind to succeed and to let nothing be in my 
way wlien I entered the store. lie did not say a word to 
me, all to bis nephew. I withdrew with the pack of cards, 
went down into the street, tore them to pieces, threw them 
into the gutter and said, "You will never ruin me." 

At the time I was a young man, over sixty years ago, 
the tlieaters in Philadelpliia were most shocking places. 
They bad a third tier of disreputable females, and all young 
men on their first visit to the theater went to see all the 
sights, and as a conse(|uence suffered morally. Aftei'wards, 
when living in Cincinnati, I said to my boys, " Boys, if you 
can say what I can say now, when you are twenty-one years 
of age, that you never were in a theater, I will give you 
each a check for .$100. If I have not the money, I will 
borrow it." Robert r)edell, the eldest said to me one 



rp:mimscknces of cideox hukion. 



65 



day, " Father, ^-ive us tlio luoiu'v and lay it out in land 
and mav be it will be worth something hy that time. Will 
vou trust us?"' I answered "Certainly, I would not have a 
hoy I could not trust." Mr. Gustavus Foos, then a citizen 
of Springtield, formerly a customer of mine in Philadel- 
phia, and now living, being a large manufacturer, was going 
out to Iowa and agrecMJ if I wished it, to invest the money 
for me. I gave him -t.")")!) in gold to invest in eighty 
acres of land for each of my boys, which he did. I paid the 
taxes on it until they were twenty-one years old. So none 
of my boys went to the theater until after they wer(^ twenty- 
one years of age ; and my o[»inion of the theaters is that 
they are a very great curse to the community. 

On going to Philadelphia, 1 attended St. Andrews 
Church, of whi(di Pcv. Gregory Townsend Pjcdell was the 
rector. I soon became interested and attende(l the Friday 
evening lectures in the little back room on the lot. One 
hot evening when the room was crowded, the Rev. 
('has. P. Mcllvaine, then of West Point, lectured for 
Dr. Bedell, upon the subject of the grain of mustai'd seed 
and the little leaven. On the conclusion of his addi'ess 
Dr. Bedell arose and said : "Aw\ake, north wind: and 
come, thou south ; blow upon my garden, that the spices 
thereof mav How out." " Xow, if any of the congregation 



66 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

after being dismissed, would like to converse on the subject 
of religion, we shall be hu])})}^ to liave them remain." Tiie 
whole congregation, commiinicants and all, remained. He 
then remarked that he would meet them the next Monday 
evening in that room when he would have some of the breth- 
ren to assist him. It was that night, I think, that I surren- 
dered my will to God, an act which is called, in Scripture, 
conversion. On AFonday night I went to the meeting. The 
first promise that I could apply to myself was, " W^e know 
that we have passed from death unto life, because wc love 
the brethren." 

Years after this the Doctor had an attack of sickness; 
the first Sunday after his recovery he sat on a stool in the 
pulpit and preached from the text: " God forl)id that I 
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
Which text, he said, he wished })laced on his toml). 'Idic 
text was accoi'dingly placed on a memorial tablet whit-h 
was sunk in the wall in the rear of the chancel. 

I then attended all the weidcly as well as Sunday 
services, including Wednesday and Saturday evening 
Prayer meetings conducted by the laymen, in the ab- 
sence of the minister. Among those conducting tlu^ services 
were .loshua Copeland, Dr. l>ul]()(d<:, Thomas Crunipton, 
Wm. V. P>owers, Wm. C. lUissell and Wm. 11. Diehl. the 



RKMINMSfKNCES OK CIDKON lUJRTOX. 



67 



last foui' hccaiiic ministers of lIic (Jus|m1 nl' tlic P. Iv 
cliiircli, iiikI all of lliciii ai'c now <lca<l. I)i'. Cfii iii jdon 
lately <rn'il ai tlic lipc ap,*- ol" *)(). 

Tlici-c \v('i-(' l^'riday ONcninj^ lectures by tlie rector. 
They were always opem:^*! with IlNinn ;><> ("I'^ir from my 
thi/u;:,hts, vain woi'ld, he^nne ; " ) when clo-in^^ Hymn 40 
("Liti-(1, dismiss us with thy hlessin^,") was sunt:'. All the 
eongreiiation santz the^e I'amiliar hymns. The whoh- num- 
her ot'the ehni-(di ddleetion ot hymns was '212. At one of 
these meetiny,s on a rainy eN'eninji, the lte\'. Ste|)hen 11. 
'1'}'''^' j"~^t ealleil to St. Paul's, jireacdietl e.\ lempora neously 
his first sermon in IMiihuhdidiia, from the text, " ( io and sell 
all that th(ju hast, etc." I thought I never heaivl su(di speak- 
inj2,' without notes. Al this time I attende(l the IJihle (dass 
(Ui Sunday nnjrnin;^'s, luuj^ht in the ort^an ;4allei"y hy Mr. 
John Cla.\ton, halfdn-other of the late Rev. U. B. (Maxton, 
1).J),, ol' ldiilad(djdiia, tin; latter a membei' of the class. 
AnH)ng other niendjers were Josej)li P. I>. W'ilnmr, after- 
wards mentioni'd who died some ten yeai's ago, and 
Rev. Kingston Goddard, 1). I). ; all of the class except 
myself are injw dead and gone. At this time 1 sang in the 
choir, of whi(di Thomas C. Loud was organist, Mrs. Charles 
Treielud, niece of Bishop IIo[)kins, soprauf), her husharnl 
bass, mvself alt(j. At a <iuartei" to two o'(do(d< I went to a 



68 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

Mission Sunday School just started in Commissioner's Hall, 
Second above Christian, about a twenty-five minutes' walk. 
The teachers at that time were Arthur G. Coffin, our 
Superintendent ; Wm. V. Bowers, already mentioned, and 
dead long ago; Thomas W. Evans, of Germantown; James 
Messenger, who went as Missionary to Africa and has 
been dead many years, and others. On many Communion 
Sundays, I went without my dinner, and whilst a teacher 
for twenty years, in Philadelphia, I can say to the best of 
my recollection I was late only twice. I generally at- 
tended church at 3:30 in the afternoon always in the 
evening, and felt sorry on Monday tliat I had to go into the 
world again. 

In 1825, the Church throughout the United States 
was in a very low condition ; other denominations looked 
upon us as such. The revival of Gospel truth in the Pro- 
testant Episcopal Churcdi, which has permeated its wliole 
extent, was furthered by such men as Drs. Allen, Pcdell, 
Tyng, Suddards, Johns and Heiishaw, of Piiiladcl[)liia 
and Baltimor(^ ; Drs. McIUvaine, Hawks, Milnerand Muh- 
lenberg, of New York; Bishop Griswold, of the f^astern 
Diocese ; ]>isho[)s M(K)re and Meade, of N'irginia : IJislioj) 
Chase, of ()hi(j: and Dr. Brooke, of Cincinnati, O. (Jood 
old Bishop W'iiitc never threw a straw in their wa\". often 



REMINISCEN'CES OF (IIDF.ON BURTON. 69 

attoiuliii^ tlie evening services of St. Andrew's Clmreli, 
wliieli w'rve lield onee ;i month, sitting in the cliancel 
without liis robes. Unlike Bishop Hohart, of New York, 
lie was a nioniher of the American Bible and Tract Societv. 
Dr. BiMbdl, of St. Andrew's took s})ecial interest in Snmlav 
Schools. He had a r)ible class of young ladies one afternoon 
of the week, of which Uev. Mr. Smith, afterward presiding 
Bishop of the Church, was teacdier. In asking (piestions 
he hatl them all numbered so that he called bv 
the number and not the name. Dr. Bedell met the 
teacliers in his vestry room once a week and once a 
month at his house on Spruce street, and had connected 
with his Chui'(di. including a number of missions, 1,500 
Sunday School scholars. All the teachei's were very zealous 
and presented Christ in all his fullness. Of those who took 
part in this work but very few, or none, are now living. At 
this time no great interest was taken in the Sumlay Schools 
of the churches of any denomination. 

The Churcdi at this time was free from the two ex- 
tremes of Ritualism ai.d r)road-( 'hurchism, if I may so 
speak. It was called High and Bow ]'>vangelical. Both 
pai'ts were strictly orthod(^x. Bxith believed in the two 
Creeds of the (Miurcli, its Thirty-nim' Articdes, and its l*ra\er 
Bonk. The latter preacdied more of the necessity of a new 



lO REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

heart, and toDk more interest in the cause of Alissions, 
Sunday-Schools, I)ihle and Tract Societies, which t1ie former 
dill not, l)ut they were more [particular in keeping the letter 
of the rubrics. The former however, nevei- held any 
irregular services in a Consecrated (Miurch. 

All ministers of the Church preached in the hlacdc 
gown, using the sur[)lice. About fifty years ago two 
ministers, one of the high and one of the low Evangelical 
part of the Church, Right Rev. O. W. Doaiie and Rev. 
AVm. Newton, preached in their sur})lice, and in time the 
whole Church was convinced of the pro}>riety of this 
change. 

Prol)ably about 1S2G the Rev. Chas. P. Mcdlvaine, 
afterwards Bishop of Ohio, was Chaplain to the cadets at 
West Point. Quite a revival took [)lace under his preach- 
ing. Many were not only converted but l)ecame ministers 
of the gos})el, one of whom was afterwards Bishop i*olk, of 
the Diocese of Louisiana. It annoyed considerably the 
authorities. They said they did not hire chaplains to 
make tlieir military men preachers, and he was re[i()rted 
as doing this. After this time he was rector of St. Ann's, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. lie delivered a number of addresses on 
the evidenc(»s of Christianity, which are a text-book in 
some of our E})iscopal 'Jdieological Seminaries. 



RF.MINISCENXES OF GIDEON BURTON. '1 

Til a1)out 1S27, T lieartl a sermon from Ucv. (afterwards 
IJishop) Meade, of Virginia, the text beiu'i; "And Agag said, 
Surely the liittcrness of death is past." It was on a sliort (hiy 
in winter: and as there was no gas, lamps were hronglil up l)y 
tiie se"^t()n, ^[l•. ( 'ottorall. Mr. Meade was afterwards a candi- 
(hite fi>r the Assistant Bishoprie of tlu^ Dioeese of Pennsyl- 
vania, and eanie witliin one vote of being eU'eted; Rev. H. V. 
( )nderdonk was afterwards eleeted. In the same year 1 heard 
a sermon at St. Andrew's C'hureh from Kev. .lolm Henry 
Hopkins, then a rector at Pittsl)urgh, afterward ]>ishop of 
Vermont, and once a celebrated lawyer, from the text, 
"And if tlie I'ighteous scarcely 1)0 saved, where shall tlie 
ungodly and the sinner aj^pear?" He had a brother who 
was in the tobacco and snutl" business on Market street, 
near Nintli, and was the father of Kev. Geo. V. Tfopkins, 
now at Stevensville, Pa., whose hrst parisli was at Doyles- 
town. Pa, 

I was eonlirmed in December. 182S, at St. Andrew's 
Churcdi willi lift_y-eight otliers, l)y the Rt. Rev. Rishop 
White, in t\\o afternoon Dr. Bedell addressed the converts 
together wi(h the congregation, from the t<'.\t : '' l*ay thy 
vows," his sermon was republished by his son, the 
l)ishoj) of ()hio. who is now dead. A copy of this sermon 
was bound for me in 'J'nrkish morocco (mv name on 



r^ REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

one side and "Pay tliy vows" on the other, T still have 
the Sermon and I'ead it over once a year,) hy a youn^; 
man named Jos. P. B. Wilraer, employed in the American 
Sunday School Union's Book Store, on Chestnut street, 
above Sixtli. He afterwards attended Kenyoii ('olley;e, 
Gambier, 0., and the Theological Seminary at Alcxandi'ia. 
D. C. His friends in Philadelphia, including his brother 
John, built for him the beautiful church, St. Mark's, 
on Locust street above Sixteenth street. He was a suc- 
cessful minister, and became Bishop of Louisiana. On 
the Cliristmas following my confirmation, I took my lirst 
C(nnmunion, now sixty-six years ago. After the old 
communicants had received the communion, we asseinl)led, 
fifty-nine in number, and stood in tvvo rows in front of the 
chancel, not altar, where our dear pastor, Dr. IkmU'II, ile- 
livered us a short address, telling us our consecration to < Jod, 
the privileges that we were about to enjoy, imduding the 
communion, and that hereaftei' our lives should l)e devoted 
to Him. 

In 1S2S or 1829 two of our Mission Schools of St. An- 
drew's, — one from Commissioners' Hall, Second street, 
above Christian, and the other from Sixtli and Catharine 
streets, — united in celebrating the Fourth of July, march- 
ing with the Stars and Stripes down the neck (as we called 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON RURTC)N. <o 

it) ill the direction of Point Breeze. We saw the celebrated 
Stei)lieii (rirard riding in a ouodiorse carriage; I can recol- 
lect he had but one eye. 

The funeral sermon of Rev. Benj. Allen, who had been 
the rector of St. Paul's Church, for some yea,rs, was 
preached l)y our rector, Dr. l>edell, about the year 1820 
or 1830. " When you have," said he, "or when this 
church has no more weekly lectures, no more prayer 
meetings, no more Sunday schools, no more missionary 
meetings, then write upon this chancel, this pul[)it, this 
wall, ' Ichabod, tlie glory has departed.' " The hymn sung 
at this service was No. IGO of the old collection of 212: 

" VVlien gathering clouds around I view, 
Aa<l days are dark, and friends are few, 
On Him I lean, who, not in vain, 
Experienced every human pain ; 
He feels mj' griefs, he sees my fears, 
And counts and treasures up my tears." 

When I was about 18 years old, after uniting with 
St. Andrew's of Philadel[)hia, I thought on the subject of 
studying for the ministry, but remembering the Hie, Ilaec, 
Hoc, I feared I never should accomplish it, and made up 
my mind to continue as merchant, and that I would do all 
the good I could in Sunday School teaching and in giving to 
the church. My father, sup[)0sing from my letters, I w^as 



74 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

neglecting niy business, wrote me that if I desire:! to 
study for the ministry he wouhl send me to Bishop Chase, 
at Kenyon College, if not I had better attend to my business. 

Years afterwards I took a class in the church, under 
the Rev. John A. Clark, and then the Bible class, (which T 
had formerly attended when it was taught by Mr. Claxton.) 
and continued this class in the lecture room until I moved 
out to Cincinnati, in 184S. On looking over old letters, the 
otlier day, I found a note written l)y John A. Clark, then a 
boy of eight or ten years of age, a son of our rector, now a 
hrst-class lawyer in Philadelphia, on "Walnut street, below 
Fifth, and probably si.^ty years of ag:^. The note was in 
answer to questions that I gave to the class on " ^^dly 
do we need salvation?" 

A number of Christian young men formed a Youth's 
Tract Society, which originated at St. Andrews Chur(di under 
Mr. William Russidl. I joined this Society and we distril)- 
uted tracts ; we afterwards changed the name to Young 
Men's Tract Society. While it was the Youth's Tr;ict 
Society I had the honor of l)eing \"ice-Prcsid('nt, and the 
Rev. John Martin, who died in lSt);l, aged eighty-foui- 
years, was tlie President, and Tlios. W . Evans, mentioned 
Itefore, was a meml)er. We had our anniversavy before 
wo changed the name fr(nn Youths', in the \^'sti'v room 



rkminiscencp:s of cidf.on burton. 



ill tlie I'^irst rresbvtei'ijin Cliurcli, of wliicli Rev. Albert 
Inirnes was pastor. 

The next year, 1832, I was elected President of the 
Yoniio- Men's Tract Society. We distribnted tracts gener- 
ally, and to tli(> market people and (be fish women in the 
Snnday market. The greatest cross that 1 had to 
take up in my Christian ex[)erience, was to go be- 
fore breakfast to these nuirket })eople and give them 
tracts, for I would see the older merchants coming along. 
Once I gave a tract on the Trinity to a, market-man, 
wdio was a Ilicksite (ijuaker ; aftei'ward asking him how 
he liked the tract, he answered, " I don't understand 
thee about tlie Father, Son and Ilfdy Ghost." I answered 
" Neither do I know how my soul and l»ody are together," 
and left him. The next anniversary in l^'Vo, was held in 
St. Paubs Church, and I liad the honor of being Presi- 
dent of the Society and Chairman of the meeting. jNfy 
pastor, the Rev. Dr. Bedell, who died the following year, 
o})ened the meeting with prayer, and we were addressed by 
a young man, about twenty-nine years old, who had just 
accepted a call to St. Paul's, the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng. 

The next one who addressed us was Rev. Mv. Spronll, 
who had a church on Race street, below Fourth; and the last 
s[)eaker had just arrived from Yorkshire, a ^^'esleyan 



78 REMINISCENCES OF (ilDEON BURTON. 

Methodist, who had produced quite a sensation ])y preach- 
ing in tlie churches of different denominations: among tliem 
Uoardman's Church, corner Twelfth and Wabiut streets. 
(The Diocese of Pennsylvania purchased this l)uilding and 
tlie lot on wliich it stood, and have erected a splendid 
Diocesan House.) He told an anecdote of a tract distribu- 
ter in London, who had a wooden leg. As he was making 
the usual monthly distribution, one family (who were 
ir(d)rews) would not receive his tracts, and always shut 
the door when they saw him coming. On<' time when 
a man o[)ened the door, he thrust in his wooden leg and a 
tract went with it, and that tract converted the man. This 
minister afterward became agent of the American Sunday 
School Union, and came west to ()hio to establish Sunday 
schools, where Bisho}) jNIcIlvaine met him and induced him 
to unite with the Episcopal Churtdi. The first churtdi he 
took was one at Zanesville, Ohio. At this time (I race 
Church, of Philadelphia, had just been huilt and the Rev. 
Dr. I)rinckley was Rector, who, finding he was not succ(^ss- 
f'ul, resigned. Two members of the vestry took the stiigc 
from Philadel})hia to Zanesville, and cnllcd the Pev. Mr. 
Suddards, and brought him on with them, and he reniaineil 
rector of Grace Church, Philadelphia, tor over forty years. 
He is now dead. 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 



77 



A few (lays ago I came across an aim i versa rv i)aiui)lilet 
(»f l.Sr),"] of the Young ^^e^'s Ti'act Society, giving a full 
account of t]ie meeting just describee], and also a letter 
of the TTon. \\'in. Wirt, author of the life of Patrick Tleni-y, 
dir(^cted to(Jideon Burton and R. Bethel (Maxton, C'oinmit- 
tee, regretting his necessary absence, and wishing us great 
succes'<. The folh)wing is an extract, date(l I)e<'. K), 183."): 

"If any time were at niy coniinand, then, th(U-e are few 
objects whicdi I sliould deem it a inorc^ imperious duly to 
promote by all the means in my power, than the circuhitioii 
of these tracts, which, I am sure, have done so much for the 
cause of the cross. I consider them among the happiest expe- 
dients that were ever liit upon to excite and feed the ajipe- 
tite for (diristian knowledge. 1 am sure that you have 
the fervent prayers of all sincere (Miristians for your suc- 
ci'ss. Had I l»een at leisur(\ I would certainly ha\'e attend- 
ed your call ; as it is, my fervent wishes and prayers are all 
I have to offer. Kes}>cct fully \'ours, 

\\'ll.I.IAM W'iKT." 



It will be reniem1)ered that, while at Washington, he 
[ironounced a eulogy on .leHerson and Adams at their 
decease, wlii(d) to(dv place July 4, 1820, and was beloved by 
all who knew him. 

In 18:5;! I attendeil a convention of the rrotestant 
I-'piscopal Churcdi of \'irginia, at Alexandria, D. (\, in 



<8 RKMIMSCKNCF.S OF CIDKOX HUKION. 

coni[)aiiy with my rt'ctor, Dr. IJedcll, ami wil'c James (\ 
llulmc, and I tliiiik, Geo. S. Scofield. We took the stao-e at 
Ik'ltzlioover Hotel, lialtimore, in the l)lue Tine of coaches, 
traveled some thirty odd miles to Washington; aiid stopped 
in Alexandria at a private honse of an Episcopalian, on 
a very hot day. Not an as[)en leaf could move. The sem- 
inaiy was high up ahovc the town. A numher of my 
friends were there, studying for the ministry. I visited 
Mt. Vernon, and saw the tomh of Washington that 
had heen opened on the late visit of l.aFayetle, 1S-J4 or 
1825, and attemled serviees in the ehurcdi in which \\'ash- 
ington worsliip[)ed, in Alexandria, and eut a cane from a 
hush near a s[)ring hy the road in the wootls. 

In 1S;J(;, wdien the Kev. J no. A. Clark was I'ector 
of 8t. Andrews, the foundation of the steeple whi(di had 
never l)een l)uilt, was taken down and a new Sunday Stdiool, 
lecture and vestry huilding was }>ut up in its })lace, three 
stories in height. The first lloor was occupied as a Vestry 
room and an infant school room; the second as a lecture 
room; the third floor had two rooms, one for the male and 
the othtu' for the female Sunday School. Before I took the 
Bible class in the church 1 had a class in this male 
Sunday School department. Arthur G. Coffin was then 
our Superintendent. As far as 1 can recolh'ct tlu' teacdi- 



RKMINMSCKNCKS OF CIDF.ON I'.rKTON. 



7!) 



crs at (liis time wore George W . Taylor, JmIhi I). Mc- 
KiMver, Genrge Knorr, Beiijamiii (4. Go'lfrcy, .lolm T^)()li- 
leii, L(Miniel Gofliii and Hicliar<l V>. l)nan(\ My bov, Rob- 
ert Bedell, was then a nienil)er of tli(> (dass tanglit bv 
Ml'. Godfrey, (who still lives near h'hihuhd|diia, ) and his 
fainil}- has now a l)Of)k ])resented to him by Mr. Godfrey. 
Tj('mu(d Coffin, a gentleman who originally b(doiiged to the 
Congregational (dini-(di of Rev. .bdiii Todd, a ft ei' ward became 
an Episeo]>alian ; he is now living, and T might sav, is a 
modtd of a man in laboring foi' his Mastei'. and in his nobh^ 
gifts of (diarity; he is at })res(Mit one of the wardens of the 
Cburcdi of the Holy Trinity. Rhiladcdiihia.-" John Rohleii, 
a ward(m of Holy Trinity, in his will left .$10,000 
to establish the Rohlen Lectures. Duane, a voung man, 
was a great grandson of I'enj. Franklin, and son of 
"Will. J. Diiane, Secretary of the Treasury under Pres- 
ident .Ia(d<:son, who lost his office by refusing to r(unove 
the United States deposits. This young I)uau(^ was 
a salesman on Front street in the house of David 
S. r)ro\vn Si Go. In my intercourse with him I was 
impressed with the fact that lie would make a valualile 
minister of tlu^ (Jos[)el and said to him one dav, " hiiuiie, 
have you ever thought of studying for the ministrv." ^- I 



He has since died leavini; a large amount nf his properly to charitabli- Institutiojis. 



80 



RKMINISCKNCKS OK (;II)K()N lUIRTON. 



luive Ix^eii tliiiikiiii;' this matter over and coiifliuUMl that 
as far as my jml^mciit is com-cniccl you should." lie 
said ho liad not. I aflcrward mentioned the suhject to 
our Sui)eiMnten(hMit, A. (J. (\)(nn, wlio nt^reed willi me 
and afterwiU'd s[)ol<e to liim, and when a thii'd |»;iity spoke 
to liim he he<;'an to tliitdc seriously i)n the suhj('(;t and 
studied for the ministry. He was a minister of the Prot- 
estant Episc'i)[) d (Miureh lV)r prohahly twenty y^'ars. in the 
hitter part of his ministry he was Secretary of llu- l>omestie 
and b'oreign Missiomiry Society and 1 was impi'esscd at the 
time that he had done more good in tlu> same length ot" time 
than any other man that I had known. At a visit 
to St. John's, Cincinnati, pi'ohahly eighteen years ago, 
he presented the Missions ot the (diurch ami visitt-d 
the Sunchiy School making an address in wliieli he said 
that the person who first spoke to him about studying for 
the ministry was there present, and I am liappy to say it 
was myself. 

In 1836 or 1 S;>7, whiK' in huainess on Market st reet, Phil- 
adelphia, a young num, about 2 1 years of age, Joseph barker, 
called in and asked me to see him privatidy. We walked 
up stairs, lie had been educated as a Lilx'ral briend, 
was about six I'eet high, of bold front and had bi'on one vl' the 
headers in a l^'ire Company, lie leaned across the counter, 



KKMINISCENCES OF GIDKON HURTON. 81 

burst, into a (Idod of tears and exclaimed " I must jtut on 
the straight coat." " What is the matter will) you, Parker," 
suiil 1. I thou;^ht some party had imposed u|m)1) him iu 
some terrible way, when, lo I it was th(_' Spirit of (lod striv- 
ing with liim. After a shoi't conversation, 1 asked him to 
go with me. W(,' went to the residence of my dear rector, 
Kov. John A. (Mark, in Sansom street, Itelow I^ighth, for 
advice and consolation. After talking with him awhile we 
all kiifdt in prayei-. Jn a few <Ia\s he was the happiest 
man I have ever seen, an<l he has n(.'Ver been otherwise 
since. He is still living in Philadcdphia, eighty years 
old. JI(^ has been a continutjus worker i'or the Master 
from the day of his cf)nversion, conducting cottag(i me(!t- 
ings, and visiting the poor and needy. Jle was afterwards 
successful in bringing one of his brothers, Edward, into the 
Church, who was an e.xcidlent worker ami at his death 
left a hundr(Ml thousand dollars to the colored institution 
near Philadelphia, (-ailed tin; (.'olored Home for the Aged. 
I received a lettei' from Mr. Jos. Parker, a few days ago, 
giving me a list of one hundrt.'d persons that we formerly 
knew. But orn^ of that nuiidjei" is now living, my old friend 
and former pastor, Rt. Rev. Bisho]) Clark, of Rhode Island. 
What an encouragement is this case to young men to 
devote their lives to their Saviour who bouuht them. 



82 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

During the Latter part of the ministry of our beloved 
rector, Rev. Jno. A. Clark, at St. Andrews, his health be- 
came very delicate and his congregation sent him to 
southern Europe, hoping he would recover, hut his journey 
did not restore his lu^iilth. On his return he published his 
ti'avels, called the '* Glimpses of the Old World," which are 
exceedingly interesting. Finding his sickness had some- 
wliat affected the attendance on his cliurch, and in sym- 
pathy for his family I had a handsome })ortrait of him 
painted by Wangh (an artist well known to Philadel[)hians,) 
and presented the same to liis wife. His son, Jno. 
A. Clark, spoken of before, has this })icture to-day in 
Philadel|)hia. Mr. Sartain, an engraver now living in 
that city, and about ninety years of age, engraved it. 
Some few years ago I found stowed away in a drawer 
tliat had not been opened for many years a number of 
these pictures, and on examination T found they were 
engraved by Sartain and j)ublishcd by (Jidcon l)Ui-ton, 
which fact I liad entirely forgotten. 

Old Bishop ^foore, of \"irginia, was a charming man. I 
heard him [)roach several times in Pliilad(dphia, once at old 
St. James, Seventh, above Mai'ket street, liis subject being 
"The 'Vow Lepers"; a second time after the death of liis 
nephew, |)r. LedelL "My dear nephew," he said. The lat(> 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. ^3 

Hi?;hop Beilell, was imich like him in height, form and 
long liair; see the full length })ainting at the Philadelphia 
Divinity School. 

I remember well the Sunday morning on which the 
Kev. Dr. Bedell, late P)ishop of Ohio, and Dr. Claxton, 
were ordained deacons in St. Andrews Church, Philadelphia, 
hy Bisho[) Onderdonk. In the afternoon, at St. Andrews 
Church, Mr. Bedell preached liis first sermon, the subject 
was "iMene, Menc, Tckd, UpJutrsin.'' In the evening, (it 
being the third Sunday of the month, on which St. Paul's 
Church was always open,) Mr. Claxton preached his first 
seimon from the text, "Adam, where art thou?" Mr. Bedell 
was called first to the church at Westchester, Pa., then 
to the Church of the Ascension, New York, the only 
churches of which he was ever rector. After I moved to 
Cincinnati, Jose[)h Moore, of Madison, Ind., and myself 
induced Mr. Claxton to move out to Madison. He was a 
very [)raetical business man and very successful in Sunday 
Schools. He moved thence to St. Paul's, Cleveland, and 
thence to St. Luke's, Rochester, and afterwards was a pro- 
fessor in the Divinity School of West Philadelphia, and 
rector of St. xAndrew's Churcli, in that vicinity. 

Some eighteen years ago, when dining with Bishop 
Bedell, at Gambler, in company with Ex-President Hayes 



84 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

and lady, Chief Justice Waite, and my son, the Rev. John 
Henry Burton, the Bishop told his guests that the turning 
point of liis life wlien lie could surrender to the Saviour 
was reached through the influence of my early associate, 
Jas. C. Hulme, who remarked to him one day, "Thurston, 
T can say nothing more to you. I have said all that I 
can about your becoming a Christian, the responsi])ility 
lies upon you," and left him. The Bishop said that interview 
settled the great question with him. 

Dr. Bedell, together with Dr. Colton and Dr. Tyno; and 
a number of laymen, started a college at Bristol, Pa., to 
be under Episcopal management, which afterwards failed. 
1 w^ell remember Thurston Bedell, afterward Bishop, speak- 
ing in a dialogue at one of their meetings at the college after 
he had left Dr. Muhlenberg's Institution, at Flushing, R. T. 
At this time one of the Professors was my bosom friend, 
Jas. C. Hulme, just before mentioned. 

The Rev. Francis L. Plawks, who had left l"hi-liing 
Institute some years before and located at Holly Springs. 
Miss , and was afterwards rector of St. Thomas' Cliurcdi, 
New York, was elected I)isho[) of the Diocese of Mississippi. 
The general convention hold at St. Aiulrew's church, Phila- 
delphia, was asked to confirm his election. I( was one of the 
most trviu"^ scenes that I have ever witnessed. Ilisiri'eat 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON HUK'ION. 85 

(^xtravagaiicc and expense at I'lusln'iii^ Institute was the 
c!iarge a;j,'ainst him. His (lijfensc Ijefore tlie conv^ention 
was the nmst eloquent speech that I ever listeiuiil to in 
my life. His voiee was superior to any that I have 
ever liear^l. " My charaetei'," lie said," is dearer to me than 
my life." JIc was not (•(infirmcd. 'Die convention ad- 
journed after' dark, when it hegan to rain. I rem<-mher 
some of the speakers on hoth sides. Those in opj)osition 
were llev. Ed. Y. ITighee. K<-v. Dr. Meade, Kzekiel (cham- 
bers, and olhers. Meade was very angry, and said sooner 
than sign a pa|)er confirming Dr. Hawks election to the 
l'>{)i-copa1e. he woidd <-ut od' hi^ right liaiid or arm and 
hold up the hleeding stump. I distinctly rememhei- his 
saying these words. One wIkj spfd-ce in (•(Uifirmation of the 
election was Senator IJerrian, from (ie(U'gia, a fine, tall 
stately giuith-man, a strong Whig, ami one other person 
from South C'jirolina, whose name I cannot remend)er; hut 
none was so toiudiing as Dr. Hawks him<(df. Though not 
then [)ers<tnal]y ae(juainted will) him, I iiii mediately offereil 
my umbrella to him and Dr. .Morton, a former rtctor of St. 
.Jame-, lately deceased, then a young man, to whose resi- 
<lence, on I^'ilbert street, below ']\;nth, I accduipanied iIkuu. 
I have often heard him piea(di and I'cad the services; Ik- 
was inimitable. \\'(dl do I rem(;mber the !'s;dm that he 



86 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

read in 1827, when he was rector of St. James' Church, 
Phihxdelphia; " Lcjrd, who's tlie hap[)y man that may to thy 
blasts courts repair !! " 

At a former General Convention in St. Andrews Church, 
Sept. 1835, he was nominated fertile l>isho}»rie of the South- 
west; i. e.,the state of Louisiana and the territories of Florida 
and Arkansas. He refused, and remarked, "The ( Jood Book 
says that the Lord will provide for the young ravens when 
they cry ; but no where," said he, "does it say he will 
provide for the young Hawks." Cicero Hawks, his brother, 
was afterward Bishop of Missouri. The brothers were born 
in Newbern, N. C, in a house which I saw in bS37 when 1 
visited a customer there. At the same convention l>ishop 
Kemper was elected Missionary Bishop of the Xorthwest; 
i. e., Missouri and Indiana. 

In 1815 I moved to Schuylkill Fifth, (now Eighteenth 
street) above Arch, and started a mission school by visiting 
the neighborliood on Saturday afternoons. It was held in 
the building at the south-east corner of Summer and 
Schuylkill Fifth. I purchased the l>ipe organ that belonged 
to Dr. Bedell; [)aid $175 for it, got my nieces, Hannah and 
Elizabeth Rodney (the former now the wife of the Bishop 
of Oregon) to [»lay. We were all zealous. One room for 
the infant class was taken 1)V Rev. Samuel Durboiow, who 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 87 

was a City Missionary in Phildelpliia, and, until reccntlv, 
Snporintcndent of tlie Protestant Episcopal Missionary 
\vork,<lyino a few years ago, greatly loved by all who knew 
liim. Wv had two large rooms in one, forming an L for the 
main sehoi)l, where we had two hundred Sunday school 
s(diolai's. AftiTwards my business compelled me to live; 
nearer my store, so I moved down town, and one of mv old 
(derks, from 1880 to 1840, on Market street, Edwin \V. Leh- 
man, rcnmved the benches and the Sunday School to a 
(diurcdi that was just beginning, called the Atonement; and 
al)out tlie time T moved to Cincinnati, the Eev. Kingston 
(Joddard was called from Brooklyn to take charge of this 
church. Mr. Lehman, now probably sevcntv-eight years 
of age, is Senior Warden of the Church of tlic Atonement. 
He says this school was the beginning of the Church of the 
Atonement. 

I have just lenrned (November, LSI)."), of his dcnth — a 
man of a lov(dy disposition and a woid<ing ( Mnistian. 

Ivcforc 1 left Philadelphia 1 h;id been a vestrvnnin of 
St. Andrews Church several years, under the rectoi-, the Rev. 
Thos. M. Chirk. Ou his resignation, we called Lr. Stevens, 
who aftei'wards w;is the I'ishop of Pennsylvania. The first 
child he baptize(l at St. Andrews was my youngest son, 
Kearsley Mit(di(dl. T am the onlv one n(»w living of tiie 



»o REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

vestry that called him. Some years after this Dr. Stevens 
was promoted to tlie Bishopric of Pennsylvania, and the 
Rev. Dr. Paddock succeeded him as Rector, and now, after 
a lapse of thirty-two years, he continues in his })Osition. 
He has kept up the high re[nitation of St. Andrews, and 
under his administration tens of thousands of dollars have 
been contributed by the congregation for charity and relig- 
ious purposes, and hundreds of communicants have been 
added to the church. Hd is a man who })reaches Christ 
and Him crucified. 

I returned and brought my family to Cincinnati a few 
months after I canie myself, about August, 1848. 

I attended Christ Church, the Rev. Dr. Brooke, rector, 
where N. G. Pendleton, Bellamy Storer, Mr. Bishop, now of 
tlie LaFayette Bank, 88 years old ; Richard Smith, one of 
the editors and proprietors of the Commercial Gazette, and 
Jolm Wynne, were teachers in the Sunday School. I was 
also a Sunday school teacher when Drs. Butler and Goddard 
were rectors; I liad charge of the infant school, and I remem- 
ber on one occasion I had 175 pu[)ils in attendance. A 
number of these pupils have since became men of note and 
business talent. One of them, G. R. Harms, of the Palais 
Royal has been very successful; he is now retired and is 
Mayor of Bellevue. Another, John B. Scheibly, is now 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 89 

Supei-intendent and Mannger of the Mcllvain & Spiooel 
BiiiUn* ',111(1 Tank ('oinpany, and a tliird is a minister in the 
Evangelical Lnlheran Church. It is a pleasure to me to 
h(- rcc()giiize<l hy my old pupils so many years ai'ter I had 
taught them. 

In 1.S4'.) James C. Hall, Dr. Strader and myscdf united 
to get ii[> a suhscription for a new P]i)iscopal Church, to 
bo located in the western part of the city. A\'e fornuMl a 
veslry and extended a call to the Rev. \\"m. R. Nicholson, 
of New Orleans, who had lately been receive(l from the 
Methodist Churcdi, influenceil to make the change by the 
R'^v. Dr. Francis L. Hawks. Dr. Nicholson's chai-acter I 
shall always i'esi)ect. He never preached anything but the 
pure (;os[)el — (dirist and Him crucifieih He is now a 
Bishop in the ReforiiKMl Epi-^copal Church. With little 
effort we raided .i'-J,."',Ol> for a year; called him at .$2,000, 
and rented Melodeon Hall as our place of worship. 

I have lately seen the old original suhscri[)tion book, 
with sixty-three names, and contributions amounting to 
$2,500— i;2,000 for salary. Only three of this number are 
living who worshi[)[)ed at the Melodeon. 

We formed a vestry, everyone of whom is dead but 
myself; A. J. Mead, wlio was in the vestry before the 
churcli was finished, is now living in Xew York. 



90 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

Afterwards we started to get a subscription for a 
clnirch of $50,000 or nothing, and l)ouglit a lot at the south- 
east corner of Plum and Seventh Streets from Nat. McLean, 
paying $20,000 ; the subscription for $50,000 was secured; 
a building committee was ap})ointed ; a contract to build 
the churcli was let. Isaiah Rogers, wdio built the Burnet 
House, the Astor House, New York, and the Tremont 
House, Boston, was the architect. He desired to have 
the handsomest and grandest door-way in the United 
States, and in this I think he succeeded. The church 
was named by Bishop Mcllvaine " St. John's," and when 
the $50,000 was spent on the lot and building, tlie roof 
was just completed. Then a new subscription was necessary 
that the whole amount might be obtained. All has 
been paid since that time. Mr. Thos. G. Odiorne and 
myself transferred the prcperty a few years ago, by 
the permission of the vestry, to St. Paul's for the 
small sum of $12,000, hoping and expecting to have ii 
very large church with two ministers, we advancing $2,000 
to the ministers we had then, therel)y showing what interest 
we took in the project. In the mornings for twenty years 
at St. Johns, I had the Bil)le class of young ladies ;ind 
gentlemen, from thirty to forty in number, many of whom 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 91 

beeania members of the church, and some ministers of 
the gospcL 

I must state a little incident, showing gratitude, 
that occurred when I commenced the shoe Ijusiness in 
Cincinnati, in 1S.34. A })ortcr in my employ, bring afraid 
of the first porter, who was a very austere man, came to 
me and said, " Mr. Burton, I must leave you." " Why," 
said [. He said, " I cannot live wdth that man, T am afraid 
of him." " Well, Barney," said I, "I will get you a situ- 
ation then." I got him a, situation worth .$50 a year nmre 
than I \\'as paying liim, an act that any business man should 
do. lie told me since that he was then a very poor man, a 
tailoi', witli a. large family just come from Germany, and 
did iiDt kn;)W what to do. In the meantime he accumulated 
en )Ugh to buy two houses in Covington, and. wdien I was 
unfortunate some seventeen years ago, he came to me and 
said, '• Mr. Burton, I feel very sorry for you, and I pray for 
you every Sunday morning when I go to my church 
(Roman Catholic.) What an example this is to all 
Christians, for liow litth? gratitude we have. 

In about 185li, or 1857, there was a little mission 
at the corner of Wade and Central Avenue, conducted by 
the Rev. Mr. McGhee and wife. They moved to ^Michigan, 
and the school was transferred to a building on Clinton 



9-' REMINISCENCES OF (ilDEON BURTON. 

Street, afterwards called tlie Church of the Redemption, of 
which Rev. Mr. Maltby became rector. Here I took charge 
of the school. At this time there were no such things as 
reed organs or melodeons to aid us in singing. Four 
times a year I gave a magic lantern exhibition to the 
Sunday School, which was always a great source of enjoy- 
ment to the children. A number of its scholars turned 
out to be persons of some note, and only a few days ago 
tlie Secretary of the Pounsford Stationery Company, 
Mr. Blakemore, thanked me for what I had done. I asked 
him if he was a mem'oer of any churcli, and he said he 
was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church at Avondale. 
One of the scholars was Rev. INIr. Edwards, our }>resent 
Archdeacon. We were a live mission. Afterwards this 
cliurch was consolidated with the church that Rev. 
Dr. A\'right was interested in, and called St. Jairies, at 
the corner of Richmond and Cutter Streets. At tliis 
time, after leaving tlie Church of the Atonement, 1 
went down to a mission called the Children's Home, where 
they sang as in other Sunday Schools, though it was 
under the control of the Friends, and its })i-incipal 
founder was Mui'ray Shipley. After having a, ladies' 
bible class about two months, unknown to myself T was 
elected Superintendent. Whilst licrc 1 jx-rsuaded a i'ow 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON P.URTON. 93 

of tlie 8e-hi)lars to come up to my rnorniiiii,' l)il)lc class. 
One uiiitcil with the church and is a noted I'reshytcidau 
minister in (diicaii'o, Rev. John Rusk, I'h. D. He was not 
connected witli the Home as most of tlie sch<iLirs were, he 
was of Enulisli (Quaker Stock. A\'e had a good sclioo], good 
teacliers and patrons and a num])er of hidies; among them 
George D. Sinitli, liis two daughters, Fannie and Laurel, 
Howai-d H., his son, M. M. and Fraidv White, Tliomas Kite, 
A. H. Pugh, and A. H. Stuart. 

After I'emaining thei'c for a nnmher of years I went 
down to tlie Betlnd in the afternoon, some twenty-five 
or more years ago, still retaining my l)ih]e class in 
the morning at St. John's. Here was a glori()Us field. 
Brother Ri'V. Thos. Lee, wdiose eijual I have never seen, 
hail chai'gf of the p)lace, with the folh)wing assistants : 
Philil> Hinich', n. ]\L White, John Duhois, Chas. H. Gould, 
Jno. Gates, G. H. Gihson, John (lihson, ]a^\\ E. Stevens, 
Frard< R. Jdiompson, aiul Dr. J. Taft, the last and jnyself 
the oidy ones livingof these dii'cctors. All of them were also 
teachers. The condition of my health at length coiuj)elled me 
to resign. Aftiu' my resignation the Hon. Oavid Sinton wa,s 
elected in my [)lace as a director, and made the I)ethel a pi'es- 
entof $]()(), 000 in honds. Gonsulting with Rev. Dr. Davidson, 
mv rector, we concluded that we would start a Church in the 



94 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

Northwestern part of the city. I began with Mrs. Tran- 
chsmt, ^Trs. Nichols and Mrs. Jas. A. Harper and a few others 
to collect a Sunday School at the Northwest corner of 
Clinton and Bayiniller streets, where we soon gathered 
a hirge school, six of my Bible Class having volnntcred 
to help me, and soon the Rev. Mr. Edwards, Father 
of the present Archdeacon, became our Missionary, St. 
Luke's Church was formed and opened at the South- 
west corner of Baymiller and Fiii'Ilay streets, and was 
recently very pros[)erous under the Rev. Lewis Brown. 
Some time afterwards I took a Bible Class at St. Luke's, 
and then the infant class. 

Since moving from the city to Mt. Auburn some ten 
years ago I have attended the Church of Our Saviour, and 
continue in the morning to be a substitute, having been 
sixty-six years a Sunday-school teacher, fifty-six years of 
this time twice a day, and I hope to be one as long as I 
live; and my opinion is, after so long an experience, 
that male teachers who have been successful, too fre(|ucntly 
quit teaching and working for their Lord. 

I will say in conclusion, T have never done anything 
for which I have any claim upon the ^Lasler ; 1 have 
come short in everything, ami 1 only look for sah-ation 
through tliL' blood of Jesus Christ. And I hope my 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 95 

nliiMren may ever try to be guided l)y the doctrine of God 
our Saviour in all tbino;s. 



Philadelphia in ye Olden Time. 

In ]>^2~), when I entered Philadelphia, the Episcopal 
(Miurches were : Christ's Church, St. Peter's, St. James', 
St. Paul's, St. John's, Ti'inity of Southwark, St. Andrew's, 
St. Stei)hen's, and tlie Swede's Church, and one over the 
Scliuylkil], St. Mary's. Bisho}) White had associates with 
him in chai'Lic of Christ's Church, St. Peter's and St. James. 
Rev. Dr. Ahercrombie and Kev. Jackson Kemper, and, later, 
Pev. Wm. IT. DeLancey. Dr. Kemj)er became a Missionary 
I)isliop of the Nortli-west territory ; a noble worker. Dr. 
DeLnncey became Pisho}) of the Diocese of Central New 
York. He served many years as tlie Secretary of the Dio- 
cese of Pennsylvania and wns mucdi resj)ected. St. James' 
Churcdi aftei'wai'ds called the Rev. Dr. Ilawkes who I'emain- 
ed but a short time and was followed by a young man, the 
Rev. Mr. Morton, who died only a few years ago, while 
rector of the same church, <|uite aged. 

St. Pnul's rector was Rev. Benjamin Allen ; St. John's 
was Dr. Boy<l, Of Trinity Southwark the Rev. L. S. Ives, 
afterwards Bishop of North Carolina, was rector, who finally 



^6 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

went over to the Cliurcli of Rome. He was succeeded at 
Trinity by the Rev. Dr. Meade, wlio died in Connecticut a 
few years ago when 03 years of age. St. Andrew's liad tlie 
Rev. Gregory Townsend Bedell. No minister of any denomi- 
nation could draw larger congregations than he ; he always 
looked in the pulpit as if he thought " I have a message from 
God unto thee." His health was never good ; he felt the 
great responsil)ility of his ciiarge and spoke as thougli he 
believed wh:it he said. (Why do not all ministers speak 
with more earnestness and thus excite the interest of 
their hearers ?^ Ilis inmner I nex'er have known to be ex- 
celled ; his sermons when printed were simple (ilosjxd truths. 
Dr. MontgDiniu-y was at St. Ste[)heii's, a man of 
sineeritv an 1 ability. I ha\-e seen Dr. Abcrcrombie on a 
Sunlty morning wilkiiig to his church in his black gown 
an 1 black silk gloves. He was a marked reader. 1 heard him 
read a lesson at St. Andrew's one evening in which occurs, 
" He is of ag:', ask him," which strmdc me forcibly. 
He w inted his congreg.ifion to respond, antl lun-e 1 will say 
most ministers will not give the time for the congrega- 
tion to res[)ond, and I'un thi'ongh the service most sac- 
rilegiously, espociall}^ in the Lord's prayer, ('onfession and 
Creed. Bish >p White was the first Bishop of rennsyl- 
vania (which inclu led th ' whole State and also Delaware). 



RF.MINISCF.NCF.S OF CIDFON BUR'ION. 



There being then no raih'oads nor eanals, (raveling was 
very tedious and diniciiU, mostly by stage coach and hoi-se- 
back. The ITishop was loyal to his country in the rovoln- 
tion, and was Chaplain with Washington in the army, and 
sha-r(Ml the deprivations of Valley Forge. Wdieii he walked 
our streets in riiiladelphia he was always looked U})on with 
revei'euce. His tall, stately form, in black coat ami knee 
breeches was very impi'essive. His speech was inarticulate, 
us he had lost his teetli, and at that date false teeth had not 
been inti"oduce(h It was not uncommon to see old [)eoplc 
of both sexes with their noses and chins close togetlnu' it 
has always l)een a pleasure to me to reUKunber, tbat, he laid 
his hands U})on the head of myself and oS othei's at, dear old 
St. Autlrew's, in 1S2S, live years after its consecration. 1 
think he dieil in IS;!!). ] remember the time his fun(M-al ser- 
mon was preached at ( 'Inist's Church, by Bishop Ondeidonk, 
then his Assistant Bishoj), from Psalm 49:12. " N(!verthe- 
less mail being in honor abidetli not: he is like the beasts 
that }>erish." 1 rememljer the tolling of Christ's (diurcli 
bells for him. Of course all the p4)iscopal ('hurcdu's in 
the city were dressed in mourning on that day, now 5-> 
years ago. 

One of the first teachers of the infant school of Si. 
Andrew's (diurcli was Ashtou Claxton, an uncle of Dr. R. 



98 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

B. Claxton. It was said lie could not address his class 
without having his pencil in his hand, turning it around 
all the time. He was an oddity. He had a small book 
store near the Indian Queen Hotel on I^;)nrth Street, con- 
sisting mostl}" of religous books. Every now and then he 
would shut up his store for a day or two, fearful that he 
was becoming too worldly minded. His successor I tliiuk 
was John C-. Pechin; then came Harriet McKeever, who 
wrote a number of books for the American Sunday School 
Union. I think she was a, teacher in the Sunday school 
when I left for Cincinnati in 1S48. 

It was wonderful that in lS2o so few churches of any 
denomination had stee[des. Christ's Churcli was the only 
Episcopal, and the church on Arch above Tenth, calhMl 
Dr. Skinner's, was the only Presbyterian. St. Stejdicn's 
had towers. In 1842 St. Peter's had one })ut up. Pev. 
Wm. H. Odenheimer was rector. Neither Christ's Churcdi or 
St. Peter's had a cross on their stee})le. A vote was taken in 
the vestry of St. Peter's and tliey were equally divided on 
the cross. Rev. INIr. Odenheimer gave the casting vote 
for it in the vestry. In tlie forties a great change took place, 
Th(ui and since numerous stce[)les have been erected on 
churches of all denominations and now tiie Episcopal 
tdiurches througliout the country, where the} have a steeple 



RKMINISCENCES OF GIDRON BURTON. 



99 



have also a. eross^ All tiie ]\[)isc()[);il clmrcliey at tliis (iiiio 
li;i(l tlic I. II. S. liotli on tlie I'cadiii^ desk niid on the ]iul[)it. 

The city at tliis time extended westward only to tlie 
S(dinylkill river, and then only from \\'alnnt to Arcdi 
streets. On the other side of tlie river, at I'^rancisvilk", was 
a ehnreh, St. Clary's, wliose {iresent rector, the IJev. 
Thomas (\ Y;irnnll, D. D., I rememher as a l)oy in Market 
street ; his father was a wholesale druggist. This oentle- 
maii has proltahly heen rector of a chnrch longer than any 
otlu'r minister in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. I also re- 
memher St. Thonnis' Colored l^piscopnl ('liurch, a hrick 
l)nilding on the west side of South Fifth Sti'eet. In front, 
near tlie roof, was inscribed, " The peo})le whicli sat in dark- 
ness saw great light ; and to them which sat in the region 
and shadow of death, light is sprung up." 

St. Luke's Church was l)uilt }n-incipally l)y mem1)ers 
of St. Andrew's, Wm. Welsh, Esq., the chief mover, 
James J. Dundns, Wm. IT. Newhold and others. After 
the cliur(di was huilt they called the Rev. Mr. Spear, 
recently deceased, over 82 years of age. They bought 
a s})lendid organ, huilt hy Hook, of Boston, and had for 
organist \\\ II. W. Darlcy, who was very popular. The same 
parties l)uilt St. Phillij)s, A^ine and Eighth streets, and 
called Rev. Dr. Neville. After he left, they called the Rev. 
L.ofC. 



100 REMINISCENCES OF (IIDEON lUJRTON. 

C. D. Cooper. About this time T nn't 'Phos. II. Powei-.s on 
a bo.at on tbo Nortli l\iver, regretting; the b)ss of liis rector, 
Dr. Neville; lie said tbat bis successor coubl never 
sup[)ly bis place, Neville was so ebxpient a preaclnu". 
T replied : " You take note now, and also in a few 
years, and yon will find tb.at Mr. Coo^xm" will b:i\-e more 
members addetl to bis communion tban any rector in IMiiia- 
dolpbia." After tins I compared from year to year and, 
found it to be tbe case. About 1851 1 visited St. Pbilip's 
and their Sunday S(diool, where 1 found my (dd friend. Sam- 
uel Allibone,one of tbe teacdiers, whom I bad seen bapti/.ed 
years btd'ore in St. Andrew's Cburcdi. and who afterwards was 
tbo noted biogra[)ber ol' authors. 1 took one of their Sunday 
School t(\icber's chairs and a (dass form; using- tluun as 
patterns, T bad chairs and forms built for St. .lohn's Sun- 
day Schocd in Cincinnati, of which, at this time, 1 was 
tbe SuptM'intendent. Dr. Coopci- was called to St. .fobn's, 
Cincinnati, after the resignation of Dr. Nicholson, but 
did not acce[)t. Afterwards be resigned to a('C(>|)t 
a call to build a m^w church, called tbe Cburcdi of 
the Holy Apostles, which has been remarkably success- 
ful. On rebu'cnce to the (diundi .Mmanac, I iind that 
this (dnirch has over 800 communicants, and a very largo 
Sunday School. Dr. Ct)op(U"is now above 80 years of age — tliis 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 101 

year, 1>S94, he lias just resigned liis cliarge. 'riicrc \v;is a 
report tliat wlieu lie took cliarge of a cliiiicli lie told his 
congregation that if they wanted devotional services when he 
visited them, to hand him a Bihle. He had the happv 
facuUy of securing superior working laymen, without whom 
no great success can l)e achieved l)y any minister. 

The Presbyterian Churches in Philadelh()ia in \>>2') 
were, as near as I can recollect, the following: The 
Mrst Church, on Washington Square — this Church ha<l 
lately been huilt, liaving been moved from Market Street- 
below Third — the [)astor was the Rev. James P. Wil- 
son, I). D., a man of very great ability. The Sec- 
ond Church was at the Northwest corner of Thii'd and 
Arch streets, the Rev. Dr. Janeway, pastor. The Rev. 
Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely was the pastor of the Presbyterian 
Church at the corner of Eourth and Pine streets. Dr. Elv, 
about lSo6, I think, was sent out by the Presbyterian 
Church to establish a Theological Seminary at a little town 
called Mai'ion, a few miles from St. Louis. After a few years 
this proveil to be a failur(\ and the Doctor returned to I'hil- 
adelphia and was pastor of the Presl)yterian Church, 
out ["^ilbert street. Rev. Dr. Patterson, was pastor of 
a churcdi in Northern Pil)erties. The Pev. Dr. Skinner 
was the [)astor of the Churcdi on .\rch abo\e 'i'enth, whom 1 



102 RKMINISCKNCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

renicmlxM" licarin^' preach the fuiuM-al sermon of Dr. 
Wilson, and he afterwards [»reached th(^ fnneral sermon of 
the Rev. Alhert TJarnes, the successor of Dr. Wilson. He 
moved to New York some fifty years a^-o. One of the 
Presbyterian Churches was located on Kanstead Court, 
entrance Fourth Ijelow Market, west side, where the 
great Bourse is now building ; the pastor was the Kev. 
Dr. Ingles. It was the only Presbyterian Church 
in Phila(hd[>hia tliat had an organ. The precentor was 
Mr. Woodward, the tobacconist, on Market street below 
Fourth. It was in this Chui-ch that the celebrated AlV)ert 
Barnes was tried before the Lh'esbyterian Church for lieresy. 
I was present at the greater part of tiie trial, my store l)eing 
only half a s(|uare off. The Re\. Dr. Plummer and Rev. 
Robt. Breckinridge were among the most prominent prose- 
cutors. The Rev. Dr. Beman, of Troy, N. Y., and others 
wei'e for the defense. The whole community were inter- 
ested on hehalf of Mr. liarnes, and were satisfied that he 
was not guilty of the charge. Tlie Presbyterian Cliurch 
l>ecame divided into what was called the old and 
new schools, and [>ro1)ably forty or fifty years after this 
reunited. Soon after this the congregation (before men- 
tioned) at Third and .Vrch streets, moved to the new churcdi 
on Seventh b(dow Arch, a few do(n\s from Zane street, and 



REMINISCENCES OF CIDEON ISURTON. 



lo:', 



about iliroe doors from the old Mint. Dr. Jancway <lyiiiu-, 
the Rev. Dr. (hiyler was clioseii pastor. Dr. Winchester's 
church was on Spruce street, heh:)w Sixth sti'cet. Dr. 
l\rc(Jalhrs chur(di was on Spruce street, between Third 
and Fourtli; he was a strong Calvinist. Iiev. Dr. John 
McDowell came to Philadelphia alK)ut this time. 

I think in ls;!-2, Dr. Lynnin IJeecher, father of tlie late 
Henry W^ird Ik'echer, antici[)atini2; the estal»lishment 
of Lane Seminary at Walnut Dills, pi"ea(die(l a sei'inon 
in a numhcr of Prcsl)yterian (diur(dies in rhiladel|diia. 
I remend)er one passage of the same: "(Jo into the 
dark corners of the earth and expose them to the 
rays of the Sun of Iiighteousness." In 184s, when T 
moved to Cincinnati, he was still at Lane Seminary. In 
]S,'5;> or 1834 I visited I^awrencehui'g, Ind., and heard his 
son, Henry Ward Lcecher, deliver an address on the last 
night of the year; it was very eloquent, lie soon left and 
accepted a call to a church at Lidianapolis, thence he went 
to Brooklyn, where he died. Dr. Lyman Beecher was a 
strong man of decided al)ility — was called to a chureh in 
Boston years before to combat rnitarianism. 1 think it was 
in 1844, while on a tour west, I stop[)ed in ('incinnati at 
tlu! rieni'v House, at that time the best liot<d in the city, 
where President John <^)uincv Adams was lodging hav- 



104 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

ing just dedicated Mt. Adams. Next day I attended tlie 
Second Presbyterian Churcli, Foni'tli street, near Itace. 
Dr. I)eecher preached from the text : " As for me I will 
beliold thy face in righteousness. 1 shall be satisfied 
when I awake, with thy likeness." 

The churches in Pliiladelphia of the ^Fethodist denom- 
ination at this time, 1(S25, were not numerous, l)ut tliey all 
had a large number of members. The Academy, Fourth 
near .Vrch. was one of the most noted. In this church near 
seventy years ago I heard tlie Rev. Dr. Bascom preacdi from 
the text " Ik'hold the Lamb of God, which tak(Mh away the 
sin of the world." He was then President of th(^ Meth- 
odist College at Augusta, Kentucky, and was V(M-y elo- 
quent. A few years afterwards this churcdi was torn down 
and the Merchants Hotel was built on tlic site. There 
was a Methodist Church above Race street on Fourth, 
about New street, called St. George's, wdiere Rev. Dr. Cot)k- 
man was minister. This gentleman was afterwanl lost in the 
steamer President, one of the first steamers that pli(Hl across 
the ocean. ITisson was a Methodist pi-eacher, and his grand- 
son also, the latter a few years ago applied to the Pishop of 
New York to be admitted into th(> Pi-otestant Episcopal 
Chur(di, but died l)efore this took ))lace. At St. George's 1 
heard the great man of the denomination, Durhin, preach, 



REMINISCENCES OF f.IDEON BURTON. 105 

who usually prcacluMl ahout two hours. lu his sermon ho 
repeated lUair's '* L'iiha[)py Close of Life." There was a 
church on Thirteenth street below Spruce, and one in Chi'is- 
tian street, between Third and Fourth. 

At this time the Baptists had a chur(di in Sansom 
street, above P^ighth, the pastoi- was the Rev. Dr. 
Staughton, one of their most eloquent })reachers. Rev. 
Dr. Brantley was pastor of the church in a small street or 
court near 'J bird and Arch; he was a very large man, from 
Georgia ; he was succeeded by liev. Dr. Ide. Dr. Perry's 
church was on S[)ruce street, between Fourth ami Fifth. 
At this church Joseph Parkei', was baj)tized by immer- 
sion l)y the Rew Mr. Harris, the father of the present Dr. 
Ilari'is, rector of the church at Chestnut Hill. He became 
a member of our St. Andrew's Church. I was his sj)onsor. 

The Dutch Reformed Churcdi, Crown above Race 
street, had the Rev. Dr. Livingstone for its pastor. This 
congregation afterward removed to a new church on 
Tenth street, corner of Filbert. The celebrated Dr. Bethune 
was pastor. There were a number of Lutheran ('hurches, 
one was a large brick building, Fourth street above 
Arch; also St. John's, on Race above ]"ifth, of which 
old Doctor Meyer was pastor. The oldest German Re- 
formed Church was on Race below Fourth, it afterwards had 



106 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

for its pastor Rev. Dr. S|)roiill. There was but one United 
Presbyterian Church in Phihidel[)liia, Rev. Dr. Wiley's, 
Oil Eleventh street, opposite what is now Girard Street; 
George II. Stuart was Superintendent of the Sunday-school. 
At this time the whole s<|uare, from Market to Chestnut 
and Eleventh to Twelfth, was owned by Ste[)hen Girar<l, 
and was a luml)er yard, all of whicli he left to the city. 

In 1826 I visited, with the Rev. John Tassey, of Pitts- 
l)urgh, a church called the Independent Church, on Thir- 
teenth, above Market, to hear the Rev. Jno. Chaml)ers, whose 
text was "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let 
him be Anathema, Maran-atha." Mr. Tassey remarked on 
our return, "No man can preach as loud as that for any 
length of time." A church was Ijuilt for j\[r. Chambers on 
Broad, south of Chestnut street, and he lived to be ninety 
years old, crying as loud as ever. A Scotch lady named 
Duncan, in a critical condition, left Europi^ for America, 
in a slii)) which encountei'ed a very heavy storm. It 
looked as if all would be lost. She promised the Lord it 
s})ared that the first son she had should l)e consecraled 
to Ilim, as a. minister, and that she would build him a 
churcli. ITer life was spared. Afterwards she had a boy, 
who became the celebrated Dr. Duncan, of Paltimore, and 



RF.MINISCENCKS OF C.IDF.ON RURToX. 



]o; 



slic l)uilt tlu' cliui'cli lis proini^^iMl — the one in wliicli we 
hoard Kev. Mr. CliaiiilKTs prt'acli. 

In 18"J7 tlio Friends or (^uak(rs liad a division in 
tlieir Society, Elias HicdvS l)eing tlie leader of tlie so- 
ealled Hicksites' (Unitarian in docti-ine.) 'Idle Orthodox 
took the larii'e meeting honses Fonrth and Ar(di and Twelftli 
near Chestnnt, o])[)osite tlie S<|uare owned hv Stephen 
<_iirard; also at l*\)urth and Green, and Ninth and Sprncc. 
on Orange west of Washington square, on Fourth street 
south of Chestnut, aiid Pine helow Second. The Hicksites 
took the meeting house on Fifth street and Cdiei'rv, where 
afterwards I attended the marriage, on a week day, of I'Mward 
M. Davis to Fucretia Mott's daughter, she (hdivei'ing an ad- 
dress on the occasion from the text " It is good for a man that 
he l)ear the yoke in his youth." (leneral Fremont selected 
Mr. Davis as one of his aids during his canipaii^n in Mis- 
souri in the late war. I think they had another meeting 
house hut do not remember its k)cation. 

The Unitarians had Iniilt one church at the corner of 
Locust and Tenth St. Rev. F)r. Furness was their minister. 
being now ninety vears or more of ao;o. 

In 1X2-3 there were a number of Roman Catholic church- 
es in Philadelphia. The most noted one was St. Ausnstinc's, 
on Fourth north of Race, opposite New street. This church 



108 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

was biiriKid by tlie lower class of the Aiiierieaii party iu a 
raid, I think early in the forties. \ remember being on top 
of Davis' forwardini; liouse np Market street lookini:; at this 
fire, and saw the steejtle fall in. One of the firm of Slcvin 
& Bros., who had large wholesale dry goods liouses at St. 
Lonis, Louisville and Cincinnati, lived out Walnut street 
opposite Ivittenhouse Square, in a marble palace^ built by 
Dr. Physic. After this night raid, he resolved that he would 
live no longer in Philadelphia, and moved to New York. He 
and his family were Roman Catholics. lie was the buyer 
for the different branches of the house. The house iu Cin- 
cinnati did a very large business, including banking, whi(di 
in the end was the cause of their desti-uctiou, as they had 
received in deposits large amounts from dejiositors at high 
rates of interest wliicli they were unable to return. 

The second Tvoman Catholic Church was at Thirteenth, 
between Market and Chestnut. Living on (Jirard street, one 
square east of this churcdi, I remember well the ringing of 
its cracked bell. The priest was afterwards the celebrated 
Arch-P>ishop Hughes, of the diocese of New York. lie 
and Thui'low Weed, of New York, were appointed by Secre- 
tary Scnvard, Commissioners to Europe^ to excite sympathy 
for the cause of the Union. liishop Mcdlvaine and the 
Rev. Dr. liutler went to i'higland f(»r the same j)urpose. 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON RUR'ION. '0!t 

and also Henry Ward Beeclier. Hnghos was })ro])al)ly tlie 
greatest bishop of the Roman Church in America, lie had 
a i)ul)lic discussion with Rev. John Breckeni-idL!;(\ a Presljy- 
teriau minister, who was a professor in Priiic-ct(»n College. 
The other churelies which I remember, were St. Mary's, on 
Fourth, below Spruce, St. Aljdionsus', on the nortli-west 
corner af Sixth and Spruce, and St. Joseph's, ctM'ner of 
Willing Alley and 'i'liird street. U[) to (lie tliiities, (hiring 
service on Sunday, all churelies were protecfeil fioni the 
noise made by vehicles. Heavy iron chains were drawn 
across the street and fire engines ran by ujimi tlie piive- 
ment. 

Some old })ersons may remember a demented woman, 
called Crazy Nora, who was, or head been, a Roman Catholic, 
and who paraded the streets wearing a man's hat. The 
children were afraid of her. 

Among the lawyers that I remember from 1825 to ISo-" 
in Pbiladelphia, were Horace Binney, John Sargeant, Jose}>h 
R. Tngersoll, Clias. J. Tngersoll, Win. B. Jveed, Win. J. 
l)uane, James M. Broom, George M. Dallas, l)looinfield 
Mcllvaine, Chas. (Jliauncey, Peter A. Brown, T)a\'id Paul 
])rown, Wm. Meredith. Wm. M. Meredith, Jos. Mcllvaine, 
Bouvier, and Ingram. 

Mr. Binnev was a native of Connecticut, in manner 



. 110 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

very dioiiitied. lie was very fond of nuisic, and was n 
violin player ill liis youth. lie was a W^ardeii of ("lirist's 
(diureli when John ('. B. Standl)ri(]ge was organist. They 
got a new organ from Urbin of New York, a very valualjle 
one. Standhridge did not like the trumpet stop and asked 
Mr. Uinney to let him im^n-ove it, he pi'omising if lie did 
not make it l)etter to liave it replaced by the organ builder, 
which was granted. Mr. Urbin came on afterwards in 
]nuch distress to think that his organ had been tampered 
with. ^[r. Standl)ridge asked him to go to the other end of 
the church and listen, while he played on the organ. Mr. 
Urbin claimed the parts that Standbridge had put in, thns 
giving Standbridge confidence in his work, so much so, that 
he l)ecaine an organ builder. The first one he made was a 
}>arlor organ for Mr. Jones, a member of St. faike's 
Church ; then he made an organ for the Unitarian Church 
at Tenth & Locust Streets, and after\\ards one foi- St. 
Andi'ew's. The latter two gave genei'al satisfaction. Tn 
1850 he built one for St. John's ('huindi, ('incinnati. at my 
request. I remember the freight by canal was fifty cents 
I)er hundred. This was decided to be the best organ in 
Cincinnati at that time. Mr. Standbridge has long been 
dead. Mr. IJinney lived to be over 100 years of age, out- 
livimr most of his (diildren. 



RKMINISCF.NXF.S OF GIDF.ON BURTON. Ill 

John Sergeant was considered a very superior lawyer, 
most of his cases were tried in tlie liigher courts. Ilcnry A. 
Wise's second wife was liis daugliter, and 1 tliiiik tlie 
[)resent Governor Wise was his grandson. 

Win. J. Duane, spoken of before, was Scei-ctary of 
the Treasury un(hM' (icn. Jackson. 

James M. ])room was a very hirge, line gcntlcnnm. 
(Jeorge M. Dallas was a very handsome man, wearing liis 
liair very long l)a(d<; of his ea.rs. It was he. wlio, while 
Vice-President in 184.3, gave the casting \"ote in favor of 
the celebrated Walker Hill, which proved so fatal to the 
interests of the counti'v. 

Bloomfiekl and Joseph McTlvaine were; brothers of 
Bishop INIcIlvaine. The former was one of the most 
eloquent men at the bar, the latter became nmyor of 
Philadelphia. 

Peter A. Brown was a man nuudi res|)ected, and built 
the Arcade. David Paul Brown was the greatest criminal 
lawyer at the bar, a man very neat in his person, wearing 
a swallowtail coat, })ara(ling up) and down the court room 
while the trial was going on, now and then taking out his 
snutf box giving it [)eidiaps to his client oi' the jury, he 
ai)i)reciated his position and had a human heart. \\'heu 
slaves had run away and a re(iuisition had l)een ordered to 



112 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

send them l)ack to their n^asters, he was always tlieir 
friend, and a Mr. Ingi'am, a lame man, was their masters 
friend. 

Wm. Meredith was President of tlie Selmylkill Bank, 
and was liighly respected b}' ever^'body, and Wm. M. 
Meredith liis son, a noljle fellow, was one of Gen. Taylor's 
Cabinet. 

Ciias. Chauncey was a dignified gentlemen and I think 
was a brother-indaw of Bishop AVhite. In those days the 
lawyers all earried tbeir })ai»ers in their green bags and 
and many their law bo(dvs, as they were dependent 
u[)on their own private libraries, thei'e being but few law 
books in the Logan or Mercantile Libraries. A\ this (hite 
we seldom see a lawyer witli his gi-een bag ; true, we now 
and then see a person, like Hon. Alexander IL McGufTy, of 
our city, carrying one. 

The Merchants' l^^xchange was held, before the Ex- 
change was built, in wdiat was called the old (Jotfee House, 
on Second street, north of Dock and south of the Pennsyl- 
vania Bank, kept by James Sanderson, who was afterward 
pro[»rietor of the Merchants' Hotel, on Fourth, near Arch 
street. 

The [)rineipal banks in iS-JTi were th(> Lnitcd States 
Bank, on Chestnut street, dii'ectly o[»positc the I'^irmers 



REMIXISCENCKS OF (UDF.ON lifRTON. 113 

and Mcclinnics' liauk ; one s(|nain' l»c]t»\v, tlic old Nni'tli 
Anioi'ica ])aid<; on Second street, bcdow (die^tiiut, tlie 
Pennsylvania Uank; and on ddiird, o[)|>osite Dofd'C str{>et. 
tlio Girard Bank; and the Scdiuylkill IJank, on the sontheast 
corner of Sixth and Market streets, one dooi' west from the 
site of the house in \vhi(di (u'lieral W^ishin^'ton li\-e(l — 
afterwai'ds there were the ]\Te(dianies' Inink, on South 
Third street, the Coinniereial l)aid<, on Market str(,'et Ixdow 
Third, the Sonthwark Bank, located on SeCiUid street heh)W 
Sonth or Cedar Sti'eel ; and Tenn Township Bank, imrthwost 
corner Sixth and \'ine, and some other snniller hanks. The 
rush for sto(d< in lU'W hanks, newly cdmrtered, in the early 
forties after the Tnited States P)ank went down. 1 think, 
was disgraceful. Strono- lahorino- men were employed to 
])ress thi'oneh the crowd to take stock. It disunsted the 
Philad(d}diians. who felt pi'oud of the I'eputation for hon- 
esty and fail- dealing, which has always heen accorded to 
them. 

^NTost of the hrokers' ofticcs were on Third street, be- 
tween Market ami (Tiestnut and on Dock sti'eet. ]Iale ct 
Davidson, on P)()ck St.; Alexander Benson ct Bro., on 
Third St. Afterwards one of the largest concerns was E. 
W. Clark ct Co., next door to Congress Hall, which hotel 
had an op(Miing on l)oth Third and Chestnnt streets. One 



114 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

of E. AV. Clark & Co.'s clerks was Jay Cooke, who became 
the celebrated financier at the begin ni no- of the war, and 
was successful in raising very large amounts of money for 
the Clovernment He was one of the number who built the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, and was boycotted by the 
infidel element in the United States l:)ecause lie would adver- 
tise in no pa})er except a religious one. He was very liberal 
and patronized religious papers of all denominations. Red- 
path, a pul)lic reporter for newspapers, visited the whoh^ 
lino of the Northern Pacific R. R. in the middle of winter, 
when it was covered with snow. His object was to injure 
it and he reported it to be a fraud. 

At this time the general bankru|)( law was su(di that 
any man a creditor to the amount of .|LO0() could put 
}»arties into bankruptcy. One debtor of Jay Cooke took 
advantage of this, and thus resulted the failure in 1S7"J (»f 
Jay Cooke & Co., which caused the great financial })anic 
of the coiintr}'. Jay Cooke had started with nothing in the 
world, l)ut had principle, resolving, as a (Jhristian, to give 
away one-tenth of his income. I believe he has done it 
up to the present tiuK^. Providence has fav()re<l liim, and, 
after all his troubles, probably he is to-day richer than 
he was before his failure. He now liv(^s at Ogontz, near 
lMiilade]}diia, and is still a very benevolent man. 



REMINISCENCES OK OIDEON BURTON. 115 

Alexander IJeiison, one of tlie lirokei's on Third street, 
a man of gijod (diaracter, (lie<l a few years a^o worth a 
million or two. 

Ahout 1S2(), Parkinson, the great eake and ice-cream 
man, had a little office opposite the United States IJank. 
He moved his establishment to Chestnut above Seventh, 
where he had for nniny years the most celebrated confec- 
tionery in IMjilaihdphia. In those days they ate ice-cream 
out of long-necked glasses called champagne glasses. The 
most po})ular flavors were lemon and vanilla. 

A few doors from this place was a great lam[> establisli- 
ment — Cornelius ct Co. This name is yet extant in Philadel- 
phia. T think one of the firm still lives. Two young men, 
who learned the lamp and gas fixture business with them, 
came to Cincinnati in the forties. Their names were Pakcr 
and Vonphul. They opened a store on Fourth, near Walnut. 
At the close of the war they Ijoth retired with fortunes, and 
within the last three years have died, each over eighty 
years of age. 

Townsend Shar})less, Agnew & Co., Le Boutillier, John 
Caldwell (('aldwell afterward moved to the southwest cor- 
ner of Chestnut and Seventh), and others had retail dry 
goods stores on South Second. Thomas W. Evans, who 
was a bov at this time at Caldwell's, 1)ecame afterwards 



IK) REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

one of the largest retail nicrcliants on Chestnut street. 
He retired before the war and now lives at Gerinantown^ 
in his SCJth year. He is a man of excellent judgment and 
good character. I have just learned he has let his store on 
Chestnut Street for a number of years at $27,000 per annum. 
The principal })art of the retail trade in time moved up 
Chestnut street, preceded l)y Tvcvy, who was just below 
Fifth. There was a moderate trade of tl.'e retail busi- 
ness out Market street ; Perkins was at the corner of Ninth 
and Market. Two young men named Warnock. called the 
" Cheap Boys," commenced trade on Eighth street, al)ovo 
Market; they bought their goods at auction, which they 
received daily, and sold them very cliea[); they afterward 
made a fortune and retired. The retail trade at this time 
was scattered a great deal throughout the city. Much of 
the business was done on Second below Pine. At tlie noi'th- 
east corner of second and Pine was lector Morgan; on the 
southwest corner of Second and South Street was 
Win. >[c(;iinsey: at the northeast was Andrew Mecasky. 
Above, was James J. Poswell, and on the opposite side, 
Vj. I). i.t .1. Wolf. One of the last was afterwards in jKii't- 
nership with Mc(ilinsey in the wholesale dry goods busi- 
ness on .M-irk(^t street, and the firm afterwards was \Vo\\' 
& Pcvton. Mr. J'cNton was from Kentuck\-, and is now 



REMINISCENCES OE GIDEON lURIOX. 



u: 



living in a town in Xew Jersi'V. He ttok a great interest 
in the Centennial Exposition. A great deal of the wliole- 
sale business afterwards went to Xew York, as the New ^'ork 
canal could take goods luucli chea[)er west than tiiey could 
he taken by wagon. 

I. V. Williamson was a dry goods nu'rcdiant on Second 
above Market, who started in a small way with an ener- 
getic young man by the name of Burroughs. This II. X. 
Buri'oughs beat every man that was before him. He would 
go to the hotels and l)ec()me acqmiinted with almost every- 
body. Ilis great advertisement was brown muslin, calleil 
Chicopee D, costing on time seven c(uits. which he sold 
at Gicuet cash. ('onse([uently merchants who sold on time 
could not compete with him. Tn this way he sold other 
goods besides muslins. lie linally made a fortune. Ihir- 
rouglis married a daughter of Mitchell, the widcdy-known 
ma[) publisher, ami has now retired, worth two million 
dollars. He died in 1805, (piite aged. When Ik^ entered 
his name at the Merchant's Hotel the boys wrote (j})po- 
site it, Chicopee I). Ilis [lartner, the late I. \'. Williamson, 
died only a few years ago, leaving a tortune of some eight 
or ten million dollars. 

The principal wholesale dry goods merchants at this 
time were on Market Street Ixdow Fifth: the retail mer- 



118 REMINISCENCES OF (JIDEON BURTON. 

chants were on Second Stri>et, soutli of Market. Package- 
houses were on Front street between Arch and Chestnut 
streets. The j)rincipal auction houses were on Front street, 
Jennings, Thomas & Co., Tobias & Samuel Wagner. Others 
were on Market above Second, C(unley, Tevis vfe Co., and 
(iillingham, Mitidiell et Co., al)ove Third. 

Jolin I). Myers, wdio afterwards became a great auc- 
tioneer, was crier at Jennings & 'Idiomas in 1825. His 
dwelling was on Arch street. 

The most i)rominent wholesale houses on Market Street 
were: Thomas C. Kockhill, Ileni'v Toland, Johnson A: Tin- 
gley, Ambrose \\Tiite & C/O., Jacob Reese & Son, Worts, 
Musgrave et Co., W. ct R.Worrall, Siter, Price c^' Co., Wood, 
Abbott & Wood, Oliver & Bell, T. & J. Fassitt, Pichard Ash- 
urst & Son, Knox & 15oggs, Roset ct Ricking, Chaloner c^' 
Henry, Garrett, Newkirk & Co., Newkirk (X: Striker, after- 
wards ^latthew Newkirk ifc Co. (Matthew Newkirk was 
afterwards president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and 
Baltimore Railroad, and l)uilt a marble mansion at tln^ 
southwest cornel' of Thirteenth and iVrcli Streets.) R. ifc 
E. Riggs, aftewards Piggs it Aertson ; Thomas Shewel, 
Lewis l)rown, I'^iidil ct Tobes and others. 

The pi-incij)al wholesale silk stores were Jasper Co[)e it 
Co., afterward Caleb Cope it (^o,, 1. iV: T. Wood, Frier ct 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 



119 



Anderson, Chapron ct Xidelett. The last were at the 
nortlieast corner of Fourth and Market Streets, next door 
to T. & A. Vinton, who were in the rei^iihir dvy ^-oods 
I)nsiness. 

At this time, most of tlie jolibers on Market sti'eet 
imported a li'roat many goods (I^nglisli, Scotidi and Irisli) 
for tlieir own sides. Calicoes or prints were not made in the 
United States. The lowest (puility im}M)rte(l was called 
})lates. Thev were made of a very thin, light sn])stance 
much like cheese (doth tilled with starcdi. ddieii there was 
a better rpiality which was sold as high as 'M) cents i»er 
yard. The hrst American calico I ever saw was made 
l)y the ^[errimac Manufactory whi(di is still in exist- 
ence. T could recognize the pattern to-clay were T to see it. 
David S. Brown on l^ront street was the exclusive agent of 
this manufactory. 

The wholesale croidvcry men at this time on Maid<eT 
Street were Tams, .Vnderson & Tarns, Reed A' (drey, above 
Fifth street: 11. S. Uaufman & Co., were on Third street; 
]\[rs. Tyndall aftei'wards opened a store in the Ai'cade; Peter 
^\'right was on North Second street and one of the same 
hrm i.s now agent of a shipping line. 

The i)rincipal hardware stores were Handy. Syming- 
ton ct Bird, Allen .Vrmstrongife Co., rioo[)s, Wolfe it Bakcn-. 



120 



RF.MINISCF.KCES OF (;iI)KOX I'.URTON. 



IIowclls, ;iiwl iJcina's, Fralev & Co. I'rcdci'ick I'^-alcy, of 
tli(* last firm celebrated his ninetieth year recently. Pie is 
a nnin of strict }»rohity and lovely (diai'acter. liogeis 
Brothers retired i'rorn business abi»ut this time. 

I can recite nearly all the firms that were on Market 
between l*^>nrth and Fifth streets when I first entered Phil- 
a<lel[»hia in 1S2-") On my visit to Asbnry Park, some two 
years ago, I met a jNTr. Cooper, from rhiladel])hia, eighty- 
three years old who was one of the directors of the 
American Sundav School Union and on the {Hiblishing 
committee. Wdicn we ran over the names of the chief 
merclumts of Pliila<leli)hia. about the year 1S27, we came to 
tlie northwest corner of I'^ifth ami Markets streets, when I 
said that Wm. Stockley was at that time thi'i-r. afterwards 
succeeded by Mathew Xewkirk c^ Co., and next door 
was Knox & P>oggs. He remarkeil that Heni'v Iloiai was 
at that time on the corner. After thinking, I remem- 
bered that he succeeded Sto(d<ley there Ifeni'y Ilorn 
was in l.S2".> a[)[)ointed Colleetoi' of the I'ort under <!eneral 
Jackson. I asked Mr. Cooper if he remembereil what 
Jackson said of Horn. lie auswerc^l, '• Henry Horn can't 
lie." This occurred over sixty years Ix'fore, and I had 
never known the gentleman until several days pi'evious to 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 121 

our conversation. Jt was a coiuinon saying at that time 
among the people that "Henry Horn can't lie." 

From 18"25 until the Pennsylvania Canal was finished, 
all goods going west from Pliiladel{)hia, through to Pitts- 
burgh, were carried by Conestoga wagons drawn by four 
horses (a bell on each horse's neck), being loaded from 
wholesale grocery houses on Market Street above Eighth. 
Such houses were among others: Alter & Bispham, Horner 
& Wilson and Aaron Den man & Sons. The goods were 
packed in boxes — ones, twos and threes, according to their 
sizes. The larger ones did not pack well in their wagons. 
The rates were 13.00 a hundred to Pittslnirgh. After the 
Pennsylvania Canal was opened goods were shipped through 
it and taken over the mountains from HoUiclaysburg to 
Johnstown, l)y two inclined planes on each side of the 
mountain. Thus the rate of freight was much reduced. 
Davis & Co. had iron boats made in sections which were 
taken by rail across the mountains and there united. 

There was a Liverpool line of ships owned by Thomas 
P. Cope, a Quaker. I remember one was called Algonquin, 
after an Indian chief. This line kept a strict account of 
the cost of insurance for many years and saved enough 
by not insuring to build a ship called after its owner, 
Thomas P. Cope. This ship afterwards collided with a 



122 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON P.URTON. 

British vossc'l in the Mersey, causing a loss of $150,000 ; 
thus nothing was made by the experiment. 

The principal Hotels in Philadelphia in 1825, were 
the Mansion House located on soutli Tliird, between Wal- 
nut and Spruce, (the most aritsocratic of them all,) Avhicli 
stood back some distance from the street. John Quincy 
Adams the President, and Congressmen, stopped there. 
The house was kept by Mr. Head, and owned by a Mv. 
Kidd, the fatlier-in-law of Pope Mitchell, of the auction firm 
of Gillingham, Mitchell & Co., in Market, above Tliird, who 
afterwards kei)t the United States Hotel. The Hotel ne.xt 
in reputation, was the Washington, on Fourth alxn^e ^Farket, 
kept by Mrs. Yohe, who afterwards kept a large hotel 
on Cliestnut, above Si.xth, opposite the Arcade — this 
Arcade was built by Peter A. Brown, Init was never prosper- 
ous. The Red Lion Hotel, located on ^^Farkct St., above 
Si.xth, was then kcp thy Titus Yerkes, and i)atroni/,ed very 
extensively by Pennsylvanians and some western mer- 
chants. The Golden Swan, ko])t 1)V Wade, Avas located on 
Third, above Arch. The White Horse Hotel kept by Johns, 
was located on Market, corner of Strawberry street. The 
Hidian Queen, Fourth above ^farket street, was kep)t by 
Heiskell, who many years afterwards kept the new city 
hotel, located on Third, near Arch. Here the ctdebrated 



REMINISCKNCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 123 

Joliu llamlolpli (lit'il, ami lay in state, attended hy his 
faithful colored servant. The [)hysieian who altendi'<l him 
in his sickness was old Dr. Parrish, a Friend. Stoi'cs liavo 
been hnilt on this site for over fifty years. Ojt[)osite to this, 
Benj. lUillock, a Friend, lived, and in his house a son An- 
thony was horn, who died in Cincinnati some years ago, 
respected hy everyone, a millionaire. Idiere were, besides, 
a few smaller hotels at this time, i)atronized mostly by 
farmers, including the Bull's Head, out Market Street; the 
Western Flotel, Market below I']ighth; there were none west 
of Broad street. Years afterwards came the Second Street 
House, and the United States hotel l)uilt opposite tlie 
United States Bank (the })resent Custom House, ) and the 
Merchants' Hotel on Fourth, near Arch, on the site of the 
old Methodist Church, called the Academy, and the 
Marshall House, on Chestnut, below Seventh. At tlie latter 
hotel Chief Justice Marshall died after a surgical operation. 
I think the only daily papers published in 1S25, 
when I went to Philadelphia were Zachariah Poulson'.s 
Daily Advertiser and the Inquirer. Poulson's office was on 
the south side of Chestnut, between Third and Fourth 
streets. I have seen him there in the door in knee breeches. 
Among others who wore knee breeches at this time were 
Paul Beck, Phili[) Garret and old Mr. Sims. This Mr. Sims 



124 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

had been a great shipping merchant, living on Chestnut 
above Ninth. He had been unfortunate and after surren- 
dering all he had to his creditors they made him a present 
of $10,000, wliich showed how they appreciated honesty in 
that day. One of his ships was named after one of his 
family, Rebecca Sims. Anotlier one of the men who wore 
knee breeches was Dr. T. W. Dyott, who kept a drug store 
on the northeast corner of second and Race streets. His 
house was four or five stories high and when I was a boy in 
the country I remember seeing his advertisement and 
thought what a wonderful thino; sucli ahiirh liouse must be. 
He afterward failed and I think died in })0verty. 

I remember when the Public Ledger and Transcript 
was first published. The office was on the north side of 
Dock street, above Second. They })ut out a board with 
paper advertisements. The price of the paper was one cent. 
The North American was started later than this by William 
Welsh and other religious and moral men who wished to 
have a paper that did not re([uire labor on Sunday. The 
United States Gazette, whose ofhce was on Third and Dock 
streets, was tlie great Wliig ])aper. The editor, Joseph R. 
Chandler, was afterward aj^pointcd minister to Italy. T 
recall clearly the night v.dien the last news came in from 
Pennsylvania in 1840, after we had waited probably three 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 125 

weeks or more, that Harrison had carried tlie state l)y a 
few hundre<l votes, which settled the matter of liis election. 
Though then a mari'ied man I threw up ii\y hat fur joy. 

In 1832 the old jail was still standing at the southeast 
corner of Sixth and AValnut. At that time the cliolera 
hroke out tliere and some of the inmates attemptiMl to 
esca})e. Some were siiot by our Mayor Col. John Swift, 
\v1k) afterwards was considered very bi'ave, and was re- 
elected Mayor as often as he desired to be. 

The most celebrated [)ljysicians at this time were Dr. 
Physic, on the corner of Fifth and Pine ; Dr. Nathaniel 
Chapman, on Walnut near Eighth — the house in which he 
lived is still there ; Dr. Dewees, on the corner of Walnut 
and Tenth ; Dr. Coxe, who resigned in I80G his pro- 
fessorshi}) in the University, Dr. Gibson, Dr. Hare, Dr. 
Jackson, Dr. Ilorner and the little Dr. Huston, most of 
whom were professors of the University of Pennsylvania. 
Dr. Pliysic moved soon after this to Maryland, 1 think in 
1828. Jefferson College had Dr. Pattison (noted as having 
fought a duel with (!en. Cadwallader, whose house was on 
the corner of Ninth and Arcli streets, and whoS(> descend- 
ants are now living in Philadelphia, one a celebi'atcd judge. 
Dr. George P. McClellan, father of the celebi'ated General, 
and Samuel McClellan, Drs. J. K. Mitchell, Houston, Meigs 



1'2(i REMINISCENCES OF C.IDEON HCIRTON, 

and ollicrs. A great nnnil)er attended eacdi college. I re- 
member one holiday in 1833 seeing tlie students take gas 
on Ninth Street. One from South Carolina made a speech 
on nullilication, but stopped in the middle of a sentence, 
the effect of the gas having })assed away. It was quite 
amusing. Other students were very violent. 

I almost neglected speaking of one of tl>e ohl land- 
marks in lS2r), Father Eastbern. He had a kind of chapel 
on the second tloors of two warehouses on the wharf, for 
sailors. They looked upon him as their father. He was 
(piite olil and di(Ml, I think, about ISIJO. Ilis countenance 
depicted sym})athy and sorrow ; his face was well wrinkled 
and when he s[)oke the tears rolled down his tdieeks. I 
think he was a Presbyteidan. T well remember his pictures 
that were distributed around in offices and dwellings at 
that time, as he was beloved by all denominations 

In ISoU, an old citizen of Philadelphia, Alexander 
Cook, died. He was a celebrated soap manufacturer. Rev. 
John P. Durbin married his daughter. 

On my last visit to Philadelphia I was honored by the 
St. George Society at their hall, Thirteenth and Arch 
Streets, l)y seeing the portrait of (^ueeii X^'ictoria, taken for 
the society soon after her coronation by the celebrated 
Sully, the })ride of Philadelphia, they })aying him .$1,000. 



RKMIXISCENCES OF (UDKON lUiUl'ON. 127 

T remember seeing it on cxliiMtion in riiiladclpliia at tliat 
time. It is simply inngiiiticent. Slie stands in all licri'oyal 
rol)es, front face, and docs not show lici' slmrl (diin, in- 
herited from lier grandfather, (Jeorge III. She has hcen 
and is a model Qncen. 



Cincinnati in ye Oli>kn Time. 

Septeral)er loth, 1S05. The Burnet TTonse has been 
rented and reopened by Mr. Dunklee. 1 well i-cmem- 
ber when it was eommenced in 1840, on the old Shiras 
Garden at the north-west eorner of Yiuc and Third Streets. 
It was named after Judge Pjurnet, one of the oldest eiti/ens. 
Avho emigrated from New .Jersey many years l^efore and 
who wore a queue, and live(l at the north-west corner of 
Elm and Seventh Streets. The architect was Mr. Rogers, 
already mentioned, who built many stores, in(duding 
Tyler Davidson Co.'s on Main Ijclow Fourth. The Burnet 
House fronted on Third Street. In those days with no 
elevators the ceilings were low ; the rotunda was very 
handsome with large continental pillars. Pi'olfably 
no hotel in the United States was superior at this time. 
Isaiah Rogers, th(> aixdiitect. had built the Trtunont of B(^s- 



12'S REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

ton, ill 1832, and the Astor of New York in 1834-5. No 
more substantial Iniilding could be found, I know, as I was 
one of St. John's building comniittee and knew his work. 
It has never been touched by the floods, is built on solid 
gravel and is good for a century. 

They had a grand opening when it was finished, in which 
many of the first citizens of Cincinnati participated. I re- 
meml)er attending the rece})tion with my wife and my daugh- 
ter, who was then 12 years of age. The menu was printed 
on satin and some twenty-five years ago I came across 
it in my own house. 

The large })arlor of the Burnet House on the east wing 
was simj)ly magnificent, lighted by cliandeliers with glass 
pendants. Well do I recall the rece[)tion given to the 
Prince of Wales when this parlor was in all its glory. 
Mayor Bishop escorted him through the city. The 
west wing was the Ladies' Parlor, not so large but very 
beautiful. The Padies' ordinary was on Vine Street and 
the Gentlemen's on the west sid(\ The promenade of the 
hall was very fine, extending the whole length east and 
west of the building. The Ladies' ordinary on Vine Street 
was afterwards occu{)ied by the Central Bank, which was 
merged into the First National Bank of Cincinnati. 

On the east side of the hall, near the clerk's office, 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 129 

many years after the lioaso was built, stood a })ainting by 
Beard of the "Last Man." It was a magnificent one 
representing the flood. On the west side was a painting 
of Tom Ewing, U. S. Senator, whom I heard speak in 18o2, 
in the United States Senate at Washington. Milton C'ook 
was the builder. 

A. B. Coleman was the first to take ciiarge of the 
Burnet House. Soon after he engaged the celeljrated John 
B. Drake, who is now one of the millionaires of Chicago, 
having taken charge of the Tremont House, some forty 
years ago. I)rake had been with Col. Nol:)le at the Pearl 
Street House in 1S48 when I came to the city; he was from 
Lebanon, Ohio. His manner was very fine and he was a 
very clever fellow. When he left the Pearl Street House 
some of the young men boarders presented him with a 
silver service and he in return gave them a sup[)er at the 
Exchange on Third Street. Tliree of these friemls are now 
living, Chas. C. Reakirt, John Grubb and Thos. E. Hunt. 
I have just learned of his death ; it is said he died worth 
$2,000,000. 

For many years the Burnet House declared no divi- 
dends to the stockholders, but Mr. Colemen usually once a 
year gave tliem a grand supper and entertainment, which 
apj^eared to give satisfaction. The stock ran down very 



130 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

low aiul Mr. Coleman invested in it at 25 cents on the dol- 
lar and eventually owned the majority of the stock. 

At the time of the war it was the grand center for 
officers in the army. Afterwards I remember distinctly 
crossing the river to meet Andrew Johnson, the vice-presi- 
dent, on his expulsion from East Tennessee ; he stopped at 
the Burnet. I heard here the speech of Gen. Sheridan and 
also Gen. Rosecrans, after the battle of Murfreesboro. Col. 
Lew Wallace — who early in the war had charge of the city, 
and afterwards was a (general in the army — was a guest. 
Since then it has had a number of landlords but as a house 
it has always been })opular. The great competitor for the 
Burnet was the Spencer House, the great hotel for the 
passengers from tlie Steamboats, which at that time took 
all the passengers and trade, but the railroads have since 
drawn every thing from the river and now no hotel of 
reputation is south of Third Street. 

Most of the Delegates to the National Hemocratic 
Convention, of 1855, wliitdi nominated the Hon. .lames 
liuchanan for Tresident oi' the Cnited States, were eider- 
tained at the IJurnet. Among them was George B.Mor- 
ton, who brought a l)rass band from lMiiladelj)hia. It 
was said that, he and his band noiniiialed Uuclianan. The 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 1^1 

Convention was lield in Smitli t.^ Xixon's Hall, Fourth 
street east of Walnut. 

No locality is su[ierior to that of tln^ l)urnet tor a hotel: 
it is in the center of the great thoroughfare, \'ine Street now 
heing the dividing line east and west of the city. ^^r. J. 
W. Dunklee is the present propi'ietor, and he also runs the 
celebrated Brunswick, Victoria and Vendouie Hotels in 
Boston. He is a thorough husiness man and one well cal- 
culated for his calling. He is a gentleman and his luan- 
ner is very affable and pleasant. 

The Broadway Hotel was l)uilt in the early thirties 
and the S})encer House about 1858 or ]8")4. The other 
hotels at this time were; the Henry House, Third al)ove 
Main; the (Jil)son House, Walnut al)0ve l*^)urth; the 
Madison House, Main above Front; the (lalt House, Sixth 
and ]\Iain; the Dennison, Fifth above ^^ain; the United 
States, Sixth and Walnut; the Walnut Street House, Walnut 
above Sixth ; ami the Pearl Street House, corner Pearl and 
\Valnut, which was torn down and rebuilt in stores in 1850. 
There was for a short time the City Hotel, whi(di fronted 
on Fourth Street opposite the high steeple church, forming 
an L on Main Street, next door to H. W. Derby, kept 
by Mr. Tuttle, who afterwards kept the new hotel op- 
posite the theatre, called the Woodruff- House, now used 



132 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON, 

as a tenement house. At this date you could see every 
morning a stage coach drawn up to take passengers through 
the State. 

The hest residences at tliis time were on East Fourth 
Street extending to Pike ; on Pike Street ; on Broadway; on 
west Fourth Street extending down to Park, and on Sixth 
Street west of Mound ; but the easy and cheap travel on 
street railroads made a wonderful change in the location 
of dwellings. Property on West Fourth Street that rented 
for .t2,000 thirty years ago, is renting now from $(300 to 
$800, but the business part of Fourth Street is worth 
j)robal)ly fifty {)er cent, more than it was at that time. 
The greater part of the better class of citizens have moved 
out to the sulmrban towns. Walnut IFiUs which used to 
liave but a few thousand inhabitants has probablv fortv 
thousand now. Avondale, Clifton, and Mt. Auburn are 
tilling up very fast. Forty years ago there was an omnibus 
line running from Fourth and >rain to Walnut Hills, 
which was the only })ublic conveyance to that [)lace ; 
tliere was also a line running from Fourth and Main to 
Brighton. Great opposition was made to the street rail- 
roads when they were first introduced and it was difH- 
cult to get })ermission to run on the streets. The old 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 133 

horse railroads have now heen superseded by ek^ctric 
roads ; they are far superior. 

The Cincinnati Consolidated Street Railway Company 
has a most complete system, now running electric cars 
and giving ti'ansfers to all parts of the city. They have 
seventeen or eighteen connections ar.d })robably no cits- 
in the United States is better served than ours is by this line. 
The president, John Kilgour, is a man of great ability and 
always has the approval of all his employes. He is a man 
in whom everybody has confidence. Under his able ad- 
ministration the Company has recently leased, with the 
})rivilege of purchase, some fifty acres of land at Chester 
Park, where it will immediately erect immense shops for 
the construction and re})air of its cars. The Company 
promises to supply our city with accommodations f(jr rapid 
transit which will be su}>erior to any in the country. 

The connections of the steam railroads have largely 
increased. While in 1848 there was but one road that 
left Cincinnati, there are now })robably nine or ten, and the 
river business has, consec{uently, become comparatively 
small. 

In 1848 the Postofhce was located on the northwest 
corner of Fourth and Sycamore streets, in the building now 



134 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

owned by James j\r. Glenn ; Major Oliver was PostniastiT, 
having l)een appointed by President Taylor. 

Before the war an extensive business to and from Cin- 
cinnati was done on the river. There was aline of packets, 
running from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, daily, namely: 

The Brilliant, Buckeye State, Pittsburg, 

Messenger, Keystone State, Allegheny. 

I remember at one time the Buckeye State carried the 

horns, being the fastest boat in the line. 

There was also a line of sph^ndid steamers running 

from Wheeling to Louisville, namely: 

The Alvin Adams, David White, Thomas Swann, 

Baltimore, Virginia, State of Wheeling. 

iVU of these have long ago passed away. They not only 

carried freight but passengers. They were provided with 

first class accommodations ; their tables were s})lendid. 

The steamer jNIoselle, a Cincinnati and St. T^ouis packet, 
blew up April 25, 1838, at Cincinnati, killing 170 jiersons. 
A Mr. Ferris, a merchant of T^awrenceburg, a customer of 
mine when in business in Philadel}diia, was on the upper 
deck and was blown ashore without injury. 

Probably one of the most distressing disasters that has 
occurred in this country within the last century was the 
collision and burning of the two magnificent double decked 
steamers, the America and United States, the two elegant 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 135 

United States Mail I^iiie steamers [flying l)etvveen Cincin- 
nati and Louisville, which occurred early on the morning 
of December 4, 18()8, at Kayl's Landing, near Warsaw, Ky. 
There were several wedding })arties on l)oard who had just 
ceased dancing when the awful shock occurred. As a gale 
was blowing u})stream at the time the {)ilots misunderstood 
the signals and the boats collided. The United States, 
going downi stream, was sti'uck on the starboard ([uartei' 
and sunk in a fcnv minutes; a number of barrels of coal oil 
on her forward deck becoming ignited caused the contlagra- 
tion and both steamers were com})letely destroyed. Tln^ 
loss of life was very great, but the actual number of those 
who perished has never been definitely ascertained. The 
two boats were among the finest specimens of marine 
architecture on the Western waters and were valued at 
nearly $2()(),000 each. It was a severe blow to the Mail 
Line Company, but most of the stockholders are now dead. 
Rev. Mr. Rising and Rev. Robert J. Parvin, two Iriends of 
mine, were among those who ])erishcd in that awful night 
of tiood and llame. 

At first Main and Pearl Streets were th(> great thor- 
oughfares for Wholesale Dry Goods an<l other Merchan- 
dise; afterwards Walnut Street, West Third, and West 
Pearl Streets came in and divided the trade. 



136 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

Tliere were no stores on Fonrth Street west of Vine 
ill 1848, and not more than two or three on Pearl Street 
west of Walnut. Fourth Street west of Vine had some 
elegant residences, such as Groesbeck's and Wiggin's, with 
fine front and side 3'ards, now the site of the Pike Opera 
House ; and on tlie south side near Race was the Second 
Presbyterian Church. At this time the Unitarian Churcli 
stood on the southwest corner of Fourth and Race Streets, 
where now stands one of the luindsomest stores in tlie 
city. 

From 1848 to 1850, and long before, a considerable 
business was done through the canal. A great many mer- 
chants had their stores on its banks (also the Pork men, 
though most of them were on Sycamore and Broadway). 
N. W. Thomas, Henry Nigh, George Shillito, .James Wilson 
& Co., Wm. Gilpin, Joseph Torrence, Iveck & Schaefer, 
Piigli & Albord, Chas. Davis, AFiller, Brown & ITankins, 
Wm. Bradbury, John DuBois, Miles Greenwood, Ev^ans & 
Swift, Johnson & Pence, IVTcKeehan & Evans, Geo, F. 
Davis, Gardner Phipps, J. R. Childs & Co. afterwards J. 
Rawson & Co. in 1852, Wm. Neff, and Samuel Davis, Jr. 
Chas. Davis and James McKeehan are the only ones left 
out of all this number, and they are ^ri and 87 years old. 
McKeehan is still a very handsome man. 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 137 

Before the war most goods were sold by wholesale 
houses from their stores, customers coming to ('incinnati; 
now goods are chiefly sold by traveling salesmen, by 
samples. 

One of the best known men in the city at that time 
was Piatt Evans, a first class tailor, full of fun, who had a 
store on Main Street between Third and Fourth. Another 
was Mr. McElvey, who had a store on Broadway near the 
Broadway Hotel; he bought the first ticket to hear Jennie 
Lincl (I paid $17 for tickets for myself, wife and daughter); 
he afterwards built a fine store on Fourth Street near Wal- 
nut, now occupied by the Pahico Royal ; lie built the 
northwest corner of Fourtli and Vine, and afterwards 
failed. 

One of the landmarks wdien I came to this city in 
1848 was the bakery of Augustus II. Muth, located on 
Fifth Street, where the Government Building now stands. 
It was said that Mr. Muth paid cash for all the flour he 
used, taking a bag of coin with him when he went to order 
his stock. 

I well remember the grandfather of Charles V. and 
Wm. H. Taft, the father of the late Judge Alphonso Taft, 
who owned property on Fourth Street west of Vine, a fine 
looking old gentleman who wore a queue. Also Mr. James 



138 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

Hix, a small, short gentlc^man who owned tlic corner of 
Race and Fonrth Streets ; he raa<le his money shipping 
flour and produce down the river, principally on flatboats. 
Here now stands the huilding of th(> Commercial Gazette. 
The following is a list of Wholesale Dry Goods Mer- 
chants in business in Cincinnati, in 1848: J. & A. Slevin, 
John Sharp & Co., Boylan & Co., Day & Matlack, Acton & 
AVoodnut, T. O'Shaughnessy & Co., Deter A. White & (^o., 
J. AV. King & Co., Henry Marks & Co., Hopper, Wood ct 
Co., D. J. Morel, Carlisle & White, Goshorn & Patterson, 
J. D. ct C. Jones, J. W. Ellis & Co., Pt. B. Bowler & Co., 
Levy & Bro., Latimer & Jenkins, Tingley & Burton, Went- 
worth & Bro., Taylor, French & Wynne, W. P. Devoe, Wynne, 
Haines & Co. Later Louis Stix ct Co., and later Lockard & 
Ireland, Pearce, Tolle & Co., Hubl)ell, Alexander & Driver, 
Chambers & Stevens, Bohm, Mack & Co. and others. The 
largest retail houses at this time on Fourth Street were : 
John Shillito, LeBoiitillier & Co., Deland, Gossage & Co. 
At this time John Shillito was on Fourth Street east of 
Main, on the site where Stribley & (^:).'s building is now, 
and was one of the first houses in Cincinnati that could be 
called a One Prkc House; now all first class houses are. 
LeBoutillier Sc ('o. were' on Fourtli Street, east of Walnut. 
Most of the retail stores were then on Fifth Street — Rilev 



RF.MINISCF.NCES OF GtDKON BURTON. 1?.9 

& Wood, Walker liros., Bra(l.str(3et, James Maxwell, Wm. 
McLaughlin, Johnson &, Jackson and 11. P. Cooke. 

Since the war great changes have heen made in every 
line of iMisiness, ami in dry goods as much as in any. Most 
of these firms have either hroken or gone out of l)usiness, 
ami nine out of tim of the [parties ai'e deceased. Now the 
wliolesale dry goods stores are hut few com[)ared with the 
nuraher hefore .the war, l)ut are immense cor[)oratioiis 
whose husiness amounts to millions of dollars of sales a 
year, consisting [jrincipally of Dry Goods, Silks and 
Notions, including almost every descri[)tIon of meindiamlise 
except Groc(;rLes, wholesale and rcitail, such firms as the 
Jidin Shillito Co., the Alms & Doepke Co., the IE. & S. 
iVjgue Co., the Ceo. W . .McAlpin Co., the Mahley & CarewCJo. 

The Hardware Merchants wkke : It. W. l>ooth & 
Co., Gould & McCracken, Mead & Winston, J. J.. Wayne, 
Latimer, Colhurn & Lupton, Neff Bros. & Co., Peter Neff & 
Sons, and later Dickson, Clarke & Co., Tyler Davidson cfe 
Co., the Co. heing Henry Prohasco, who presented t(j the 
city the magnificent Fifth street fountain, a great ornament. 
Since the war this line of husiness has become quite small, 
in consequence of the large amount of manufactiii-ing in 
the iMiited States, the goods being sold by agents direct 
to the mercliants in the country. 



140 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON RURTON. 

The AViiolesale Grocerymen were: Springer, White- 
man & Co., W. W. Scarborough was then the company; Tlar- 
rison & Hooper, John I. Coram & Co., succeeded by Tweed 
& Andrews, Jos. C. Buth^r & Co , Bishop, Wells & Co., aftcr- 
Avards R. M. Bishop & Co., Wm. & Geo. Wiltshire, Thos. 
IT. Miner, succeeded by his brother John D., John Sicl)urn, 
Raper & Bro., Ross Sl Ricker, Ilosoa & Frazier, Traber & 
Aubery, Taylor & Odiorne, Henry Ilanna, Wm. Glenn & 
Sons and others. Glenn's store was at the north-west 
corner of Sycamore and Lower Market. William Glenn was 
captain of a boat running, I think, to Aurora ; he came from 
Indiana, was born in North Carolina ; ho was one of the most 
successful merchants Cincinnati ever had. He afterwards 
moved to the north-east corner of Columbia and Walnut Sts. 
and lastly built a large store on Vine, below Pearl. They 
made a large fortune at the time of the war : it was a very 
popular bouse. One of tiie most valuable of the firm was 
a son-indaw, Mr. Richard Dymond, who is still living and 
beloved by all his friends. One of the Rebel Geiiei-als 
after the war was their salesman : he made the remark that 
if there should be any wholesale grocerymen in heaven, 
they would be Wm. Glenn & Sons. He and his wife lived 
to an extreme old age, both devoted (Miristians. 

The Wholesale Shoe Men were: — Wm. H. Comstock, 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 141 

J. Y. Ro1>l)ins, Wilcox, Doildridge ct To., nftcr\v;ir(ls Joliiisoii, 
Pricliar<l & Co.; Jolm Gates & Co., John Simpkinson, Win. 
F. Tliorne and M. K. Reeves. The ()nly one of these hi-ms 
now on Pearl street, left in any kind of Inisiness, is John 
(Jates, represented by his two sons, John and Jani(>s. 

TiiK Wholi-:s.\lp: Clotiiixg Mkn weki:: — Knhn, Rinds- 
kopf & Co., afterwards Knhn, Netter & Co., Ileidelhacdi & 
Seasongood, A. & I. Wolf, the latter were on ^Fain hclow 
Pearl, Jacob Elsas & Co., Lockwood et Co., Millions e^' l)i-o., 
Kornldett ct Bi'o., G. Simon ct Ci). These at that time were 
the principal wholesale Clothing Houses but now their 
niiuiber is simply legion. 

The Furniture Factory Men in 1S4Swki;e: Mitchell 
& Rammelsberg, Daniel F. Meader & Co., Amlrew McAlpin, 
father of George.^ an<l William; Geo. Henshaw, S. J. John, 
Bowen S: Pfaff, and John Gyer. \l. Closterman was in 
business in 1843, a manufacturer of chairs. lie has since 
made a fortune, retired and takes the world easy. His sons 
are now running the establishment. lie owns the large 
building on Fourth Street, occupied by the Geo. W. 
McAlpin Company. 

^\'ith the assistance of Dr. Comegys T give the follow- 
ing list of the practicing })hysicians in Cincinnati at the 
time of the sfreat cholei'a scouro-e in 1849, nearly all of 



142 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

whom are now (lead : Drs. Daii'l Drake, John P. Murphy, P. 
Richards, Rives, Dandridge, Foster, Dawson, Tate, Carson, 
Warder, R. D. Mussey, W. H. Mussey, J. F. Potter, Latty, 
Unzinker, John Davis, J. B. Smith, G. Mendenliall, L. M. 
Lawson, John P. Harrison, Ridgely, B. S. Lawson, A. H. 
Baker, Tom 0. Edwards, Ilansberry Smith, C. S. Muscroft, 
J. D. Shotwell, William Judkins, Jesse P. Judkins, David 
Judkins, Sattler, B. F. Richardson, Morgan, S. 0. Alni}^, 
Taliaferro, Marshall, Keys, M. B. Wright, Bettman, C. 
G. Comegys, C. L. Avery, 0. D. Norton, J. P. Walker, 
T. Carrol, C. Hughes, W. Strader, J. Atkins, S. Bonner, 
0. Langdon, W. P. Thornton, P. G. Vattier, I. Dodge, Wood, 
Clias. Woodward, Starr, Browne and Fore. We think but 
five of this list are still living, Drs. Comegys, Norton, 
Murphy, Bettman and Walker. 

Dr. Comegys was born in the State of Delaware. His 
father was Governor of the State, his oldest brother was 
Chief Justice of the State; another brother, Benjamin B. 
Comegys, is now President of the Philadel|)hia National 
Bank and also Trustee of the Girard Estate. 

He visited Paris for the purpose of clinical study. He 
translated a large book called "The History of Medicine," 
by Renouard, which has caused him to be known through- 
out the United States. Many yeaivs afterwards one of his 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 143 

professors, T think Di'. Wood, of tlie University, liaviiio; 
(lied lie was called to deliver an address in Pliiladidpliia, 
which sliowed in what re,i2;ard they held him. lie is now 
President of the University of Cincinnati. I am hapi)y 
to say that his whole life has shown him to h*^ not only 
a professor, l)nt also in action a true CJhristian. 

One of our most po[)ular citizens of this city is Mr. 
Seth C. Foster, of the firm Stearns & Poster, a cotton manu- 
facturer, who resides in Clifton. T sold his brother a hill of 
*;oods in 1838, at Burlington, Ivy. Mr. Foster says that he 
was then about seven years old. 

Messrs. Procter et Gamble were doubtless among the 
first manufacturers of soap in our city, commencdng lousi- 
ness in 1835. No two men had more pure characters 
than they ; probably no two citizens gave more money to 
charitable purposes. Their sons sustain their character 
and do credit to their familes. 

About 1848, Procter ct Gamble and Thomas Emery, the 
father of tlie present Thomas Emery's Sons made o])posi- 
tion to the then prevailing custom of making short weight 
candles. They thus established a reputation for integrity 
and fair dealing which has been sustained to this day, and 
which has resulted in the great and continued j)ros])erity 
of their children. As at this time the consumption of can- 



144 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

dies was immense, coal oil not having as yet come into use, 
this move on the ]iai't of our citizens was fully appreciated. 

Christ's Hospital and Deaconess Home, on mt. Auljnrn, 
was founded through the liberality of Mrs. Elizabeth Gam- 
ble, continued by Mr. James Gamble before liis death, 
and afterwards by James N., D. B., and William A. Gam- 
ble, and })robablv by their daughters too. 

Two of the most notable men of this city are T. and 
J. Emery. There is hardly a square where they have 
not ])ro[)erty. The city is much indebted to them for 
the s[)len(iid buildings they erect. It will be remem- 
bered that they built the Children's Episcopal Hospital, 
Mt. Auburn, and at the present time, November, 1895, 
are about to erect and endow a building for a colored orphan 
asylum, and no doubt before they die tliey will enlarge 
their benefactions. Their father was a remarkable man ; 
he was contemporary with Procter & Gamble in the thirties; 
was at one time unfortunate in business and com})roinised 
with his creditors, afterwards lie became successful and paid 
up all his com[)romised debts. Not one in a thousand ever 
do it and but very few are able to do it. 

Wesley Smead, a banker, in 1853, was the founder of 
the Widows' Home. Before tiiis, the widow of Judge 
Burnet, before mentiouol, called on Mr. Smead, telling 



REMINISCKNCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 145 

tliat four ladies lia<l a house on David Street where thev 
sup[)orted four old widows. They wanted to enlarge the 
place to forty or fifty, he gave $200 each. Afterwards Mr. 
Smead became interested and gave $20,000 and collected 
$20,000 more; afterwards gave $10,000. How few remem- 
ber this. W. Collard his partner, afterwards of the firm 
of Smead, Collard & Hughes, told this to me, and said he 
disbursed the money; this was 42 years ago. Many old 
Ladies and Widows have enjoyed this noble gift. 

Smead was a printer by trade. M. I). Potter called on 
him, and asked a loan of $500; unable to give an endorser, 
being a printer, he was given the money. M. Potter died 
rich, one of the proprietors of the Cincinnati Commercial. 

We are pleased to hear that our citizens are begin- 
ning to learn the luxury of contributing largely to the 
charitable and educational institutions of Cincinnati. Mr. 
David vSinton's benefactions, in the last twenty-five years, 
to the Union Bethel, Young Men's Christian Association, 
The Art Academy, The Art Museum, and to the poor of 
Cincinnati, including interest on bonds, will amount to 
over $600,000. Mr. Reuben Springer gave $350,000 to the 
Music Hall and $40,000 to the Art Museum. Mr. Charles 
West gave $300,000 to the Art Museum. Very recently Mr. 
Henrv Hanna has contributed $45,000 to the Cincinnati 



146 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

University and Mr, Charles Fleisclimann the same amount. 
No doubt it has added much to their happiness. 

The city is probably as much indebted to Mr. H. Tliane 
]\Iiller as to any other man for the great interest he has 
taken in the cause of education, morality and religion 
for the past thirty years. His Mt. Auburn Institute is still 
very popular and is located in one of the most beautiful 
spots in Hamilton County. 

One of my first acquaintances, when I came to Cin- 
cinnati in 1848 was Mr. Thos. H. C. Allen. He was one of 
those who contributed to the fund of ^50,000 for building 
St. John's Epis. Church. We were fellow-laborers in the 
Church until the erection of the Church of our Saviour, 
Mt. Auburn. According to his means he has been as lib- 
eral as any Episcopalian in Cincinnati. He niigiit be called 
the father of the Church of our Saviour. He is a gentle- 
man beloved by all. 

I insert the names of the following acquaintances wlio 
have passed the line of four score years : David Sinton, 
86; Capt. John P. Tweed, 88; William Wynne, 84; Col. 
Kennett, 8G; S. P. Bishop, 88; Robert Mitchell, 84; George 
H. Hill, 85; John Simpkinson, 83; David Gibson, 82; 
Bailey S. Harrell, 80; James McKeehan, 80; Henry Han- 
na, 82; Chas. E. Davis, 86; John F. Perkins, 84; R. B. 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON RURTON. 147 

Field, SI; Z. P>. Coffin, 80 ; Cluas. C. Winchell, SO; P>. B. 
Wliiteman, SO; John B. Wliiteman, 82; J. P. Kilhretli, 84; 
William Do.ld, 83 ; Caleb Clarke, SO; Thomas S. Butler 
80, Robert Hosea, 84; David B. Shipley, 86; Russel Pot- 
tor, 83; Rev. Thos. H. Johnson, 80; W. W. Scarborough, 81 ; 
Robart James, 87, who tifty years ago kept the most fash- 
ionable ladies' shoe store in the city; Jolm K. Green, 8'2 ; 
John Balance, 85; Mr. Balance has been a citizen of Cin- 
cinnati for sixty years, he is of Quaker stock and was l)orn 
in Lancaster County, Pa.; W. S. Groesbeck, 80 ; G. W. 
Goodhue, 84 ; Joel Brown, 90; Joseph Lakeman, 84; Wm. 
M. Littell, 84; Albert Assur, 83; Col. S^veeney, 84; PI. H. 
Miller, 82; Jacob Ezekiel, 83; Samuel Thomas, >io; Ilein- 
rich Von Martels, 92; C. F. Bradley, 80; George A. Prich- 
ard, 80; Geo. D. Fry, 84; Gen. S. F. Carey, 81, of College 
Hill, reports Philip Rennis, 84, and Samuel Knaggs, 95, 
of College Hill; Henry Rodgers, 90, and Thomas S. Skill- 
man, 95, of Mt. Pleasant. 

I should add. one more to my octogenarian friends, 
R. A. Holden, whom I have known over forty years. He 
has l)een a faithful Director of many moral and religious 
institutions and also of the House of Refuge for more than 
thirty years. I doubt if any citizen has contributed more 
to the various charities than he. An example to us all. 



148 REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

I have just learned the death of Phineas Moses, Esq., 
at the ripe age of 97 years. He was an English Hebrew, one 
of the earliest citizens of Cincinnati. He was one of those 
genial, good-hearted men who make all around them ha})})}'. 
Another old citizen was Judge D. K. Este, a man of 
remarkable constitution. He lias more tiian once related 
to me a story, that while at Princeton College, the great 
Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, lectured to the student prob- 
ably three or four times a year. The Doctor would say, 
"Gentlemen, you see this arm," holding it up, " if you 
hold it in this position any length of time you will lose 
the use of it entirely ; so with any other part of your body 
and the mind also. Keep them in action all the time, if 
you do so you will never go into a dotage." Probably not 
a month has passed that I have not recalled this advice. 
About twenty years before he died he built the handsomest 
mansion in the city, on Fourth below Smith. Every body 
thought he made a great mistake, because they su]ii»()sed 
he would soon die ; but he lived in it for twenty years, and 
died at the age of ninety-two. 

I find in an old Cincinnati Almanac the following : 

May 10, 1837. All the Banks in the city of New York 

suspended payment of specie, which course was immediately 

followed bv all the Banks in the United States. Unprece- 



REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 14!) 

dented mercantile embarrassments existed throughout tlie 
country, npward of 300 ])eavy Ijouses failed in New York, 
and 20,000 inhabitants dependent upon their daily labor 
for their daily bread, were dismissed at New York for want of 
employment. In two days houses stopped in New Orleans, 
owing in the aggregate nmre than $27,000,000, 168 houses 
failed in Boston from Nov. 1st, 1830 to May, 1837. 

1830. Cincinnati has 45,000 inhabitants and thirty- 
five churches, being one to 1285 souls. 

1832, February 10. Cincinnati was inundated, the Ohio 
Kiver having risen 03 feet above low water mark. 

I find the highest flood Cincinnati has had was in 
February, 1884—71 feet 3-4 inches of water. 

The delight afforded me on Sunday by reading exrtacts 
from a pastoral of my old pastor, Bj). Clark, of Rhode 
Island, constrains me to extend my book and notice them 
briefly. His words are very pathetic and impressive, stand- 
ing as he is on the brink of eternity — eighty-three years 
of age — almost at the end of a long and successful minis- 
try. The pomps and vanities of this world appear to him 
in their true light. His touching words could be read with 
profit by some of our clergy who encourage theatres and 
card-playing. 



loO REMINISCENCES OF GIDEON BURTON. 

One evening when I was about eighteen years oM, in 
[(ackiiig goorls which a customer liad purchased at a night 
auction and seut to the store, I came U[)on a co})y of the 
works of the })oet Cowper, and was so much taken with 
a part of that called ''Truth " that I repeated it over uutil 
I knew it by heart. It appeared so good to me then tliat 
I must close with it : 

Hark! universal nature shook and groaned; 
'Twas the last trumpet — see the Judge enthroned ! 
Rouse all your courage at your utmost need. 
Now summon evnry virtue, stand and plead. 
Wliat! silent? Is your boasting heard no more? 
That self-renouncing wisdom, learned before, 
H id shed immortal glories on your brow, 
Thit all your virtues cannot purchase now. 
All joy to the believer! He can speak, 
Trembling, yet happy; confident, yet meek. 
Since the dear hour that brought me to Thy foot. 
And cut up all my follies by the root, 
I never triist*^d in an arm but Thine, 
Nor hoped, but in Thy righteousness <livine: 
Mv prayers and alms, imperfect and defiled, 
Were but the feeble eftorts of a child ; 
Howe'er performed, it was their brightest part, 
That they proceeded from a grateful heart; 
Cleansed in Thine own all purif\'ing blood, 
Forgive their evil, and accept their good ; 
I cast them at thy feet — mj^ only plea 
Is what it was, dependence upon Thee; 
While struggling in the vale of tears below, 
That never failed, nor shall it fail me now. 
Angelic gratulations rend the skies. 
Pride falls unpitied, never more to rise. 
Humility is crowned, and Faith r.'ceives the prize. 



LIST OK SUBSCRIBERS. 



151 



Adderly, \V. H. 
Allen, G. M., M. D. 
Allen, Thos. H. C. 
Allen, Wm. M. 
Allison, Rohekt 
Alms, Fred. 11. 
Alms, Wm. H. 
Anderson, Edward L, 
Anderson, Larz 
Andress, C. F. 
Andrews, F. (1. 
Andrews, Mary A. 
Annek, Lewis F. 
Appleton, H. J. 

A PP LETON , R EV . E . \V . , D 

Archiable, R. J H. 
Armstrong, Geo. W. J 
AuLT, Chas. a. 
AuLT, L. A. 

Baldwin, D. 11 
Baldwin, Fhank H. 
Bailey, Mrs. John H. 
Bailey, Sam'lJr. 
Ballmann. F. H. 
Barker, M. I. 
Barbour, G. H. 
Bartholomew, G. K. 
Bates, Isaac Jk 
Bates, Judge C. wife o 
Behrens, Henry 
Belmer, H. 
Bellsmith, R. p. 
Besuden, Henry 
Biggs, Thos. J. 
Bishop, S. P. 
Blaine, J. E. 
Blair, John M. 
Blakemore, L. H. 
Bohm, Joseph 
Bradford, E. F. 
Bradstreet, E. p. 
Brannan, J. D. 
Breed, W. J. 
Brooks, Lee H. 
Brown, Hon. Chas. E 
Brown, Wm. 
Bullock, George 
Burkham, C. B. 
BuRKHOLD, Henry 
Burt, P. H. 
Burton, Capt. Wm. T 
Burton, K. Miichell 
Burton, Martha L. 
Burton, S. R. 
Butler, Joseph C. 
Butterworth, J. W. 



Calyert, Laura 

Calvary Church, E. F. S. 

Callahan, J. R., M. 1). 

Carkw, Jos. T. 

Caryer, R. D. 

Case, Reed 

Cavagna, 1'eter 

Cleneay, G. W. B. 

Closson, A. B. Jr. 

Cole, J.N. 

CoMEGVS, C. G., M. D. 

CoMPioN, Wm. C. 

Cooper, Tpiomas. 

Cooper, Rev. C. D., D-D. 
.D.Cox, BtNj. H. 

Crane, H. L. 
R. Crane, R. H. 

Ckigi.ek, L. N. 

Da ETON, James 
Daniel Jos. E. 
Davis, D. F. 
DeCamp, 1. M. 
Devou, Wm. P. 
Dextkk, Julius 
Dickinson, W. S. 
Disney, Mrs. D. T. 
Disney, Wm. 
DoisY, A. E. 
r DoM, Alex. 

Douglass, Howard 
Duncan, Gideon W. 
Duncan, Thos. J. 
Durrell, Chas. W. 
DuRRELL, Jos. E. 
Durrell, Wm. Jr 
Dykins, Kate M. 
Dymond, Richard 

Farley, Thomas 
Eastman, Mrs. Geo. N. 
Eastman, ReV. Geo. N. 
Ebersole, Dr. Jacoh 
Ehrman, Benjamin F. 
Eldridge, Jos. L. 
Emery's Sons, Thos. 

Ietter, O. G. 
Fisher, George 
Fogg, A. L. 
Fogs, Gustavus 
Foraker, Hon. J. B. 
Foster, .S. C. 
Francis, Rev. John J. 
P'reibePsG, Julius 
French, J. H. 

Gale Bros. 
Galbraith, R. H. 



Gang, Gazzam 
Gang, John A. 
(;amble, Wm. A. 
(Jates, Mrs. Jas. H. 
Gates, John 
Gest, Erasmus 
(iEST, Susannah 
GoEPPER, Herman. 
CiooDAi.E, Levi C. 
Goodhue, Frank D. 
goodloe, t. m. 
Goshorn, A. T. 
Gordon, W. J. M. 
Gkammek, Kkv. J. F.,T).D. 
Gray, Adam 

CiRAY, W. T. 

Greaves, W. F. 
Greene, G. W. 

Hagans, M. B. 
Hall, W ilmot J. 
Hanna, John P. 
Harper, G. H. 
Harper, John W. 
Healf.y, John C. 
Hearne, J. D. 
Heekin, Jas. 
Heinsheimer Jos H.&Co. 
Heitmeyer. C. W. 
Henshaw, Edw. 
Hekron, John W. 
Hi heard," Mrs. M. B. 
Hickox, Mrs. Anna 
Hinkle, Thornton M. 
H OLDEN, R. A., Sen. 
Holland. John 
Hooker, J. J. 

HoPl'LE, L ASS. 

Hotchkin, Kev. S. F. 
Howard, M. K. 
HUKD, F. O. 
Huseman, PL Jr. 
Huston, L. D. 



Inc. ALLS, M. E. 




Innes, D. K. 




Irwin, E. 




Irwin, J. T., M. 


1) 



|ames, Frank B. 
"Johnson, Geo. B. 
"loHNSi>N, Mrs. Robert 
"jdNES, Col. Frank J. 
"joNEs, Rankin D. 
Jones, W. B. 
Joseph, James F. 
"jusTis, John Jay 
"(lYtE, Bishop Isaac W. 



152 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 



Kelsai.l, W. \V. 
Kenxett, Hkcki.e & Co. 
Keyes, Samuki, B. 
KiDu, VV. R. 

KiLBREATH, J. P. 

KtLGouR, Charles 
KiLGouR, John 

K[NG>BURY, C. G. 
KiRBV, Josiah 
Kirkpatrick, M. L. 
Klai'pert, Wm. 
Knight, A. 
Kreis, John A. 
Langdon, Perin 
Laws, Harry L. 
LawSjJno. H. 
Lawson, F. H. 
LeBoutillier, Mrs. J. 
Lee, Frank A. 
Lehmer, Jas. D. 

LiNDSEY, H. K. 

Lindsay, T. C. 
Lloyd, H. P. 
LoTZE, Fred. B. 
Lunkenheimer, C. F. 
Lyman, F. T. 
Lynm, M. E. 
Martin, John H. 
Maxwell, Hon. S. N. 
Maxwell, Sidney D. 
McAvoY, A. B. 
McCalllster, Will 
McChesney, Rev. S., D.D, 
McDonald, Alexander 
McGuire, M. a. 
McIlvain Spiegel Co. 
McKlBBEN, J. H. 

MgRae, Milton A. 
Meader, a. B. 
Meininger, Mrs Chas. 
Melish, Rev. Thos. J. 
Melish, Wm. B. 
Men IE, E. A 
MiDDLETON, Geo. a. 
Millar, Harry M. 
Miller, H. 
Miller, II. Thane 
Miller, W. E. 
Mills, Chas. L. 
Mitchell, Giles, M. I). 
Much ELL, P. R. 

MOLLENKOPH, LoUIS 

MooNEY, Jas. E. 

MOREHEAD, 11. B. 

Morris, Bisuui' B. W. 
Morrow, \V. B. 
mosby, j no. b. 



Miller, H. C. 
Murray, Charles B. 
Muth, AifG. E. 
Myers, Johns ion 
Myers, VV. W. 

Neave, a. C. 
Neave, Halsted 
Neff, Peter Rudolph 
Nelson, Richard 
Nicholson, Bishop W. 

Odiorn, Mrs. T. G. 
OSBORN, T. H. 



Paddock, Rev.W. F. 
Parks, Chas H. 
Patterson, H. I>. 
Pearson, Rev. Jno. 
Peebles, Joseph S. 
Perin, Mary J. 
Perkins, W. T. 
Peters, O. E. 
Peiers, W. F. 
PoGUE, Henry 
PoGUE, Mrs. Joseph 
PoGUE, Sam'l 
Potter, J. M. 
Powell, Frank 
Powers, Frank 
Procter, Percy 
I'L'GH, A. H. 

Qu igley, Beli e 



D.D 



Smith, Robt. McF. 
Smith, Thos. H. 
Specker, John B. 
Starhuck, .Alexander 
Stedman, Chas. J. 
Stettlmus, H. 
Stettinics, j. L 
Stevens, Burt 
SiEVKNs, Rev. Robert L. 
T. SiEVENSON, Hon. Job 
"Steward, Rev. Harley J. 
Stimson, Earl VV. 
Storer, Hon. Bella.my, 
Strader, B. F. 
'Strihley, Geo. 

S'lROHRIDGE, H. 

Stlart, a. 
swiggett, s. vv. 

Taft, Hon. Chas. P. 
Taft, Dr. j. 
Tatem, II. H. 
Taylor, Jas. F. 
Taylor, Geo. H. 
Thomas, Mrs. Auglstus 
To K ITT, J. S. 
Torbert, L. K. 
Tor BERT, E. P. 
Townley, j. a. 
Trevor, Jos. S. 
Trounstine, S. F. 



Vattier, G. L. 
Verkamp, G. H. 
VoiGHT, Lewis 
Vincent, Bishop ]>oyd 



Rawson, Joseph 

Reakirt, Chas. C. 

Red way. A. J. ,,. , . , 

Rhodes, Rev. D. W., D. d^J^^^^'^'^'^' { ^^- 

Richards, Channing 

Robertson, Judge C. D. 

Rockhold, Nathaniel 

rodgers, w. c. 

Roth, Edward N. 



Sackett, a. N. 
Sampson, VV. H. 
Scarborough, J. V. B. 
Scarborough, W. VV. 
Scheible, John B. 
Schell, Albert VV. 
Schmidt, F. A. 
Schubert, Wm. Jr. 
Shipley, EdwardE. 
Short, F. H. 
Sibley, James H. 

SlEBERX, loHN 

Silvers, J. H. 

Simpson, Roisert 
Smith, C. H. 



Wallace, W VV. 
Weatherhv, C. B. 
VVkisster, E. G. 
VVeidlkr, Sam'l W. 
West, Geo. A. 
What ELY, H. 
White, Morris M. 
White, W. A. 
Wick, C. Columbus 

WiGGERS, H. H 
WOLCOTT, T P. 
VV^ooDS, William 
Wood, Wm. D Jr. 
WooLiscROFT, John N. 
WooLSEN, Jas. A. 

WoRTHlNGTON, E. 
WORTHINGTON, H. 

WuLsiN, Drausin 
Young, A. Harvey 
YouTSEY, Mrs. T. B. 

ZlEGLE, L. E. 



28 



